Taxes on Early Retirees, Business Owners Part of Health Care Plan
Tucked away in President Clinton's health care bill are a couple of tax increases for some early retirees and for the employee-owners of some businesses.</br></br>The Clinton administration said weeks ago that it would propose having the government pay 80 percent of the cost of health insurance for those who retire before they reach age 65, even if their employers were obligated to provide the coverage.</br></br>At the time, some corporate executives said this was too good to be true. Turns out it was. The recently released text of Clinton's bill does indeed contain the 80 percent insurance subsidy for early retirees - estimated to be worth $11.6 billion between 1995 and the year 2000.</br></br>However, for the first six years, the government would reclaim all of it through special "assessments."</br></br>A temporary three-year tax on employers would raise $11.4 billion, according to administration officials.