Life is hard in “post-recessionary” America, people …
Jobs (especially full-time ones) are scarce. Wages are stagnant. Hours are down. Income levels are plummeting. Meanwhile prices are rising and the country’s economy is about to be saddled with the burden of Obamacare.
What’s a typical American family to do? Well if you’re a middle-aged married couple (or an older married couple), you might want to consider getting divorced.
Wait … what?
“A typical 40-year old couple with two kids could save $7,230 a year by divorcing if one partner earns, say, $70,000 and the other $23,000,” reporter Jacqueline Leo of The Financial Times notes. “Sixty year-olds earning $62,041 each a year would save $11,028 annually if they broke up.”
Wow … them’s some serious dollars, y’all.
Leo is riffing off of a report in PJ Media … which refers back to a January 2010 report from the Heritage Foundation.
“At nearly all age and income levels, (Obamacare) profoundly discriminates against married couples, providing far less support to a husband and wife than to a cohabiting couple with the same income,” the Heritage report noted, concluding that “married couples across America will be taxed to provide discriminatory benefits to couples who cohabit, divorce, or never marry.”
This “Federal Wedding Tax” is now about to take effect …
So … what do ordinary Americans think of this tax on marriage?
Hmmmm … maybe we can get Jimmy Kimmel to ask them.
Anyway, social conservatives might not mind the “wedding tax” as it is likely to put a significant damper on gay marriages (if not the crusade to legalize them).
12 comments
From the Financial Times article:
(“tax credits” disappear at $92,401 for married couples with two children)
Or, you could have a third child, or fourth, etc. I guess “Obamacare Loves Children” or “Obamacare Loves Larger Families” doesn’t make as good of a headline, though.
Glad we get to complain about loopholes like this instead of the ones millionaires and billionaires and huge corporations get.
I’m a millionaire and I’m still waiting for my loophole(s). Two people who work hard, aren’t outlandish in their lifestyle, have priorities – like making healthcare one and buying insurance instead of a tattoo a month and smoking, not having kids out of wedlock, getting an education as far as you can go, avoiding drugs – prescription and otherwise, AND continue saving all their lives, normally achieve that goal post. Just in time too, to give it all away to those who were imprudent, including a progressive government.
You sure have a lot of time on your hands, Smirks…maybe you can become a security-challenged, Obamacare Navigator…or not. If you are permanently disabled, then by all means, you deserve a safety net. Although it’s a shame to waste all that gray matter to internet keystroking.
No wonder people are confused about PPACA with stupid articles like this one.
tom – that is the whole idea – from FITS and all the other usual suspects – to muddy the waters and confuse folks and just blatantly lie. We do not live in a Democracy any longer – we live in a TeaBaggerocracy . . .
I’m not lying, dude. It’s a report from Heritage Foundation picked up by Financial Times and other outlets. I’m told the FT used the health insurance calculator from Kaiser, which is the entity the MSM uses to make its Obamacare calculations. Not sure where this is “FITS fault.”
The Heritage Foundation/conservative ‘think tank’ is a joke.As they say,’consider your sources’.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/heritage-foundation
The Financial Times is the left ‘Across the Pond’.
Dude, you must be joking . . . The Heritage Foundation?? Really??
When you can’t argue the facts, try to discredit the source.
Lower premiums, same doctors, no wait for servicing, no rationing, the government will not pay for abortions, Medicare benefits will remain the same, etc. …
Who did you say was lying?
“obamacare hates marraige” It also hates puppies, “Seinfiled”, baseball, Apple pie, missionaries, good Sumaritans, blogs, Non-48 states, blow jobs, and shoes. According to the Heritage Foundation/Jim Demint. Serious, he told me at a Rock Hill fundraiser for his Palin like service.