Check in after the State of the Union address tonight. I will be posting about Bush’s speech and Congress’ reaction to it.
No, don’t look for anything on Iraq… Remember, nobody likes a partisan blogger.
But I will be interested to hear about Bush’s plan for health insurance, and what those in Congress think about it. Apparently, Bush is proposing to count employer contributions toward health insurance as taxable income (!) and then establish a standard deduction for individuals with health insurance. If true, it would, in theory, be a wash for those who receive health insurance from an employer – assuming that the deduction is adequate – and would give a boost to those who are currently self-insured but do not itemize. Ironically, what it would also do is complicate the Tax Code, which is already heavily criticized by this administration.
No news yet on whether this will be the only tax issue cited in the speech. Tony Snow told a reporter that the number of drafts for the speech is in the “double digits” so the final speech could yet be a surprise.
