The receipt (pictured) spells out what Obama and the feds want to keep secret – the middle class is being heavily taxed despite all the fatuous rhetoric of Democrats who invariably play the class warfare card to sell their confiscatory taxation policies.

“The 2.3% Medical Excise Tax that began on January 1st is supposed to be ‘hidden’ from the consumer, but it’s been brought to the public’s attention by hunting and fishing store Cabela’s who have refused to hide it and are showing it as a separate line item tax on their receipts,” the email states.

Source

Now being skeptical of this I went to the IRS website and found this!

Q1. What is the medical device excise tax?

A1. Section 4191 of the Internal Revenue Code imposes an excise tax on the sale of certain medical devices by the manufacturer or importer of the device.

Q2. When does the tax go into effect?

A2. The tax applies to sales of taxable medical devices after Dec. 31, 2012.

Q3. How much is the tax?

A3. The tax is 2.3 percent of the sale price of the taxable medical device. See Chapter 5 of IRS Publication 510, Excise Taxes, and Notice 2012-77 for additional information on the determination of sale price.
IRS.gov

So being more curious I clicked on “Chapter 5 of IRS Publication 510“ And WALLAH! What do I find under “MEDICAL DEVICES” under “MANUFACTURERS TAXES”? Manufacturers Taxes The following discussion of manufacturers taxes applies to the tax on:

• Sport fishing equipment;
• Fishing rods and fishing poles;
• Electric outboard motors;
• Fishing tackle boxes;
• Bows, quivers, broadheads, and points;
• Arrow shafts;
• Coal;
• Taxable tires;
• Gas guzzler automobiles; and
• Vaccines.
• IRS.gov

I think we have definitely been fooled, if we believe that the Affordable Care Act is all about healthcare. It truly does appear to be nothing more than a bill laden with a whole lot of taxes that we the people have yet to be aware of!

Aw great, more good news for your pocket book.

There’s a new tax in town, and many Democratic Senators are not happy about it. They want to postpone implementation of the 2.3% tax on medical devices or eliminate it totally. Naturally, all voted for the tax when they approved Obamacare in the highly partisan maneuvering that pushed the legislation out of the Senate on Christmas Eve.

Byron York reports in the Washington Examiner:

The medical technology industry directly employs over 400,000 people in the United States and is responsible for a total of two million skilled manufacturing jobs,” the senators wrote in a December 4 letter to Reid. “We must do all we can to ensure that our country maintains its global leadership position in the medical technology industry and keeps good jobs here at home.”

Senator Al Franken (D-MN) is particularly vocal on this subject, as industry heavyweight Medtronics is located in his state:

I want to repeal the medical device tax altogether,” the senator and former comedian said in a statement. “But I am concerned that we are running out of time before this job-killing tax goes into effect. So, for now, the best thing to do to ensure that this important industry continues to create jobs and producing life-saving devices is to delay this unwise tax.” Franken and other want Reid to include a provision to delay the tax in the ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations.

Ah, the irony! Franken’s hotly contested 2008 victory over Norm Coleman delivered the critical 60th vote to the Senate Democrats, which made the Obamacare legislation impervious to the filibuster. Perhaps the Senator, a comedian in his prior incarnation, is enjoying the often humorous operations of karma.

Photo Credit: CDC, Debora Cartagena

Medical device companies employ more than 400,000 Americans and this burdensome tax could eliminate 10 percent of the jobs in the industry, while encouraging these companies to move their plants overseas.   

As The Associated Press reports:

The tax, which takes effect next January, applies to everything from replacement joints to imaging equipment but exempts consumer products like eyeglasses and bandages. … U.S. medical device makers employ more than 400,000 people. The industry’s largest trade group, AdvaMed, cites a study it commissioned that concluded the new tax could cost 43,000 of those jobs — about 10 percent — while doubling companies’ tax bills and encouraging them to move plants overseas.  (Alan Fram, GOP plays offense in medical device tax fight, Associated Press, 06/05/12)

“Shelley Berkley thought about repealing the job-killing medical device tax, but once again Nancy Pelosi twisted her arm and convinced her to double-down on ObamaCare,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Jahan Wilcox.  “Given that the medical device tax could kill 43,000 jobs, it’s clear Berkley would rather stand with her liberal allies than fight for the thousands of Nevadans in the healthcare industry.”   

BACKGROUND …

Berkley Supported ObamaCare

• Berkley Voted For The Final Version Of The Obama-Pelosi-Reid Health Care Bill That President Obama Later Signed Into Law. (H.R. 3590, CQ Vote #165: Motion Agreed To 219-212: R 0-178; D 219-34, 3/21/10, Berkley Voted Yea)

Better health care at lower cost. That’s what comparative effectiveness research promises, but can it deliver? A new study argues that federal comparative effectiveness research won’t generate cheaper, better medical care to the American public. Instead, it will force cuts in pharmaceutical and medical device research and development, resulting in 32 million lost years of life and economic losses totaling $1.7 trillion.

Among lots of different possible treatments for a disease, comparative effectiveness research (CER) aims at figuring out the relative effectiveness of different medical interventions. As President Barack Obama explained, “If there’s a blue pill and a red pill, and the blue pill is half the price of the red pill and works just as well, why not pay half price for the thing that’s going to make you well?” Sounds very sensible, right?