McCain's health plan. Specifically the possibility of me being taxed on my health benefits. I did a quick check and it looks like my employer is currently paying almost 7k/yr for my health plan (keep in mind that I'm single w/ no kids and this number would be higher for married w/ kids, etc.). So currently, we don't get taxed on that amount:
"The 71 percent of insured Americans who get their health coverage through their employers now enjoy a significant advantage because the money spent by employers on their health coverage is excluded from their taxable income. If employers chose to pay that share of a worker’s compensation as wages rather than benefits, the income would be taxable."
[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/us/politics/01mccain.html?_r=1&oref=slogin[/url]
Now if that were to change, as purposed by McCain, it would essentially wipe out half of my claimable deductions, with the end result being more taxes paid by me (than it currently stands). McCain has been preaching no increase in taxes but if I've got this figured properly this would significantly increase my taxes (not directly, as a result of higher tax rates but because what was previously exempt would be no longer). Am I calculating this properly or do I have this all wrong?