FDXLAG

I dont know about say that again but the changes to the Health Care Savings Account rules are easily costing me about $500 this year, that is part of the Obamacare rules and it comes out of my paycheck.

Tuck

So let me get this straight - by that notion, the Bush tax cuts had a 10 year sunset on them - that means that the higher taxes exist right now - even were set by Bush but we're just not paying them????

FXDX

From FactCheck.org, a decidedly left leaning organization, countering an apparent right leaning chain email claiming a wave of new taxes under the new health care law:

Quote

A ‘Wave’ of ‘Obamacare’ Taxes?

The e-mail describes a "second wave" of tax increases that it says will take effect Jan. 1 under the new health care law. But this "wave" consists of three relatively minor tax changes that affect relatively few people.

What the e-mail describes as a "Medicine cabinet tax" simply aligns rules governing health savings accounts (HSAs), Flexible Spending Arrangements (FSAs) and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) with the tax rules that apply to deducting medical expenses generally. Under current law, taxpayers in general are not allowed to deduct the cost of non-prescription drugs as a medical expense. The only exception is for insulin. But those with HSAs, FSAs and HRAs were allowed to use pre-tax dollars to buy aspirin, over-the-counter cold and allergy medications, and other drugs available without a doctor’s prescription. The new "tax" simply says HSAs, FSAs and HRAs can’t be used to buy these medications — except for insulin — after December 31. (See pages 69 and 70 of the Joint Committee on Taxation’s "technical explanation" of the revenue measures in the new health care law, which can be downloaded from the committee’s website. This will affect a small proportion of taxpayers. For example, the health insurance industry says 10 million persons were covered by HSAs as of January of this year, roughly 3.2 percent of the population. For that relatively small group, the change does amount to a tax increase. It will bring in a total of $5 billion over the next 10 years, the JCT estimated in its "Estimated Revenue Effects" of the new law.


The "HSA withdrawal tax hike" refers to a doubling of the current 10 percent penalty that must be paid on any HSA funds spent for something that’s not a qualified medical expenditure. (See pages 71 to 73 of the JCT technical explanation.) The JCT expects that to bring in $1.4 billion over 10 years.


The "special needs kids tax" refers to a cap of $2,500 that the new law places on spending from FSAs. (See pages 74 to 77 of JCT’s technical explanation.) The argument made in the e-mail is that "many" families with special needs children now use FSAs to pay tuition at private schools catering to special needs children, schools that ATR says "can easily exceed $14,000 per year" in Washington, D.C. Perhaps so. IRS rules do allow use of FSA funds to pay for such expenses with pre-tax dollars. But the e-mail message offers no evidence of how many families might be taking advantage of this tax break currently. The claim is copied from the website of Americans for Tax Reform, but as ATR itself says: "For most people, the $2500 cap won’t be noticed." As ATR concedes, FSAs "tend to be used for things like small deductibles, co-payments, eyeglasses, over-the-counter medicines, and laser eye surgery." The amount deferred in the typical FSA is probably much less than $2500 today, ATR says. The JCT expects the change will bring in $13 billion over 10 years, but says nothing about how much of that is likely to come from the pockets of parents of special needs children.

We don’t argue for or against any of these three tax increases. We simply point out that, even taken together, they amount to less than $2 billion per year and, therefore, don’t constitute anything close to a "wave" of historically large tax increases taking effect next year.

Unquote


What is interesting is that apparently a tax increase isn't really a tax increase if it only impacts a relatively small number of people, only "rich" people, or "only" brings in an additional $2B in revenue per year.

These are the same type of folks who claim that raising spending only 7% instead of 8% a year is a draconian "CUT" in spending.

So politics aside, I think it is accurate to say that taxes have increased under the new health care law.

FXDX

marcal: to get back to your original question, assuming about 5-8 years of seniority, in the right seat of a widebody and not flying too much extra, and not in 4A2b (do a search), you can expect to average maybe 80 hours a month. This can vary widely.

At widebody pay of about 150 per hour, that would give you about $12K per month and $144K per year. Your deductions might be something like this:

Taxes: 3100
Dues: 235
401K: 1375 assuming you max your contribution
Medical: 122 family of 4 in Memphis
Med buy up: 25
Vision: 8
Legal: 16
Opt Life Ins: 88
Veba*: 40 * don't ask
AD&D: 10 accidental death and disability

Total Ded: $5109

12000 - 5109 = $6981 take home per month, or $3490.50 every two weeks.

There are certainly ballpark figures, rough estimates only. Obviously different pilots have different deductions, that is why it is so hard to give you an accurate take home pay estimate. Some might have more insurance for example. The above example does not include state income taxes either, it assumes a family of 4 in Memphis.

FDXLAG

That is absolutely correct except that Barry said it would hurt the economy to much to eliminate them last December so he extended them with the help of the Republicans in congress. And if nothing is done the taxes for everyone will go up; not just the rich. Even the nice people who receive the EITC will get a cut in the amount of money they receive from money borrowed from my future grandkids.

I guess the Economy is much better since Barry wants to raise taxes again.

Laughing_Jakal

Sorry you made a poor career choice. Time will tell with ours.

md11phlyer

Remember when mods had the balls to close threads that got hijacked by political wankery?

Busboy

Your future grandkids? You actually found something to procreate with?

FDXLAG

Hey there is the Lefty new tone on display. Or as Barry likes to say civility rules are for thee not me. Want to compare pictures of all our conquests? What a [wonderful idea, I just love it, can we do it soon?]

HSLD

Remember when forum users understood that mods may not read every post and that self-policing may be required. The little icon that looks like an upside down yield sign is the "report bad post" tool. Unless you reported the post (which you didn't), quit your whining.