The New Tax Law Through President Obama 's Term, Congress

Hoffman, W., Maloney, D., Raabe, W., & Young, J. (2013). Federal Taxation Comprehensive Volume. (36 ed.). Ohio: South-W

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. While the act is directed at addressing one of the country's most pressing problems, it generated much controversy as a consequence of the ethical dilemmas that it brings on. The act provides individuals with a wider range of choices and control over their health coverage. It provides a series of benefits such as people getting lower costs on coverage, several important health benefits being covered in the Marketplace, more help in local areas, and pre-existing conditions being covered. However, it also involves a legislation claiming that most people have to have health coverage by 2014, with those who do not have it having to pay a fee.

The current tax code for the United States is almost 74,000 pages long. Or to put that into a different light: About 116 copies of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. It is small wonder that a few of the announced candidates for President of the United States, have again begun to kick the tires on the topic of a Flat Tax. But is a flat tax actually a solution to our country’s growing tax complexity? What are the potential economic effects of a flat tax (both positive and negative)? Finally, is a flat tax even a viable solution? In short, will it work? As a concept, a flat tax is spectacular. Simplicity at its finest. As a fiscal policy, I believe that same simplicity must be examined and inspected closely.

Given the critical circumstances the United States economy faces today, the current fiscal policy, in addition to the changes that will be made in the future, is under intense scrutiny. During the Obama administration, which will soon come to an end in about six months, a variety of policies were created in attempts to create employment, raise our GDP, and boost the state of the economy, among other ideas. The fiscal policies created by Congress and the President demonstrate success in some areas, while failing in other areas, as many, including myself, would argue. As the 2016 election quickly approaches, it is important to remember previous fiscal mistakes and successes, and the current economy, in order to better grasp what will be necessary for a successful fiscal policy in the future.

The affordable care act was passed into law by congress and the president in 2010. This plan was established to help all individuals obtain health insurance, regardless of having a pre-existing condition through the government marketplace as an affordable amount, or if you did not meet the set standards, was offered a state based health care coverage (HHS, 2015). Those individuals who did not have qualified medical coverage for the majority of the tax year, they would be penalized and have to pay a certain amount or a percentage based off of their income. Also under the ACA employers are now responsible, depending on how many employees are employed with their company, to offer their full time employees health care coverage, or also face a

On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. Accompanied by a strong sense of disapproval from the public, which resulted in a rush to get the bill passed and deadlines tightened to make sure things were on the agenda on time. A debate ensued among the bill’s supporters regarding the importance of public opinion surrounding the ACA. The vast majority of supporters concluded it is only a minor part of the reform and not a critical component. The ACA has only been in effect for the past few years, and this short time gap makes assessing definitive effects of the ACA difficult. Success in in terms of the ACA is hard to define. This is due to the intentions set forth by the government being genially vague and ambiguous. Even so, with the ACA’s rapid movement through the design process many inconsistences in the reporting and managing of the proposed healthcare policy were noted. This led to an underestimation of the costs and overestimation of the perceived benefits. The result of the cost-benefit analysis and reviews of alternative methods were forgone in order to pass quick regulations. Furthermore, regulators failed to consider the moral hazards of the new rules, which are a result of people changing their habits because they don 't have to worry about the outcomes. For instance, people may smoke or drink more knowing that insurance will pay for any medical treatment. Furthermore, people can use the services for relatively minor issues

Erb, Kelly Phillips. (2012, August 1). "House Votes to Extend Tax Cuts, Accomplishes Nothing." Forbes.com. [online] available: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/ 2012/08/01/house-votes-to-extend-tax-cuts-accomplishes-nothing/.

Jason Sweatt, a certified public accountant at Elliot Davis states, “The Act has tax impact, directly or indirectly, on every American. This impact will unfold over the next seven to 10 years and we all need to pay attention so we don’t get hit with unexpected cost.” This Act immediately affects small businesses dramatically. The new law focuses on employers with more than 50 employees. Due to that, small businesses will need to exert a significant amount of time and energy to learn and

The 2003 Bush Tax Reform was on the verge of expiring and congress recognized letting the Bush tax reform expire would represent a big mistake (Dye), for it could cause a huge damper in the United States economic, cause interest groups and the American people to chime in on a government official incapable of getting legislation passed to avoid suffrage of the American people. Congress debated back and forth over the issues of raising the top income tax rate marginal from 35 percent to 39.5 percent, unemployment compensation extension and real estate taxes.

As President Barack Obama’s presidency nears completion, it is natural that America as a whole should look back and ask the question, “Am I better off than I was four, or even eight years ago?” Although there are too many issues an administration faces in eight years to focus on all of them, one of President Obama’s most notable acts in his two terms in office is the passing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), more commonly known as Obamacare. It remains a controversial law, and has already faced multiple repeal attempts, challenges in the Supreme Court, a presidential election, and continues to be challenged repeatedly in Congress. The most recent CNN poll taken in January indicated that 51% of those polled disapproved of how President Obama is handling health care (President Obama and the Obama Administration, para. 12). As the 2016 Presidential elections heat up, it becomes an even bigger issue on the campaign platforms of GOP candidates. The future of the Affordable Care Act could very well lie with the next presidential administration. With a presidency on its way out that is so well known for Obamacare and presidential candidates using their stance on repealing the law as such a key point in their campaigns, one can’t help but wonder, how much does a candidate’s standpoint on the issue affect the public’s opinion of them? Data collected in polls nationwide indicate that that despite a common negative public opinion of Obamacare, a majority of Americans support adapting

Without a doubt, universal healthcare is one of the issues that was discussed intensely in the 2012 elections that will continue to be debated into the future. What is Obamacare? Obamacare is a new law signed by President Barack Obama; its main focus is to provide affordable health care, whether the American people like it not. If an American chooses not have health insurance, an individual could be fined. As Obamacare approaches and becomes into effect, it has become one of the most controversial subjects affecting the American people today. There are a handful of people who are happy with the upcoming Obamacare, however a majority of small business owners are very undecided on the whole idea. The new health care policy provides more coverage to a larger percentage of Americans, is more cost-effective for the United States’ budget especially during these hard economic conditions. Although there are several controversies regarding universal healthcare, overall it is a good policy that will improve the United States government in multiple ways.

deduction in its draft tax return, resulting in a $40 reduction to taxes payable. There is uncertainty over

Throughout history, taxation on United States citizens has proven to be a necessary component of a growing economy as means of generating revenue for the federal budget. The federal budget funds the many government programs implemented to keep the disabled, elderly, and unemployed from falling bellow the poverty level. Unfortunately, this fund is not always available when catastrophic evens, such as an economic recession, deplete the revenue coming in and create a budget deficit. In order to regenerate money coming in and replace the deficit, the government calls on money gained from taxes. What happens when tax money is already appropriated to other programs? A tax reform. A tax increase has many times been the

The United States tax system is in complete disarray. Republicans and Democrats agree that the current tax code is complex, unfair, and costly. The income tax system is so complex; the IRS publishes 480 tax forms and 280 forms to explain the 480 forms (Armey 1). The main reason the tax system is so complex is because of the special preferences such as deductions and tax credits. Complexity in the current tax system forces Americans to spend 5.4 billion hours complying with the tax code, which is more time than it takes to manufacture every car, truck and van produced in the United States (Armey 1). Time is not the only thing that is lost with the current tax system; Americans also lose

Tax system is a legal system of imposing and collecting taxes from the citizens of the country. As it has been stated by Albert Einstein, the hardest task in the world is to understand the tax system of a country. The United States’ tax system is so complicated that its tax code contains almost 3 million words and 6,000 pages. Moreover, the taxes implied by city and state governments add more complexity to the federal taxation system. In this case, we do not need to understand the complexity of tax code system in order to get acquainted with the significant role of taxes in American society.