The New York Times reports that Obama is open to taxing health care benefits despite having opposed a similar proposal amidst the campaign. You'll excuse me a moment of journalistic chest-thumping if I note that I broke this story almost a month ago. That said, there are some caveats to the New York Times' report. The first is that Obama and the Democratic Congress are not likely to eliminate the employer tax deduction, as John McCain attempted. Both Obama and Baucus are on record against that strategy. Rather, they're likely to cap it, making it more progressive, and quietly pushing the system towards lower cost health plans. The second is that congressional liberals and, in particular, older labor unions, are dead-set against this idea. Two types of workers, after all, can negotiate high-end employer-based health care benefits: Wealthy workers and union employees. At last month's White House Health Care Summit, Wyden suggested taxing benefits during one of the breakout sessions. "This idea of taxing benefits," shot back Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa, "that was the McCain idea. That was shot down during the election. … That’s insane. That discourages what’s working.” At the least, it discourages what's working for the Teamsters. Related: For more on divisions within Labor, see my interview with Andy Stern.
