Because health care costs (health insurance and other employer paid health) is exempt from being considered income for FICA as well as income tax purposes, the FICA exemption constitutes a tax expenditure only second to the income tax deduction for business. Very hard to track down. I found a number for 2007 and am using it to create rough estimates for other years. But I'd feel a lot more comfortable with actual data. Does anyone know where such estimates can be found?
Again I'm not making an argument against the deduction (though I'm also not saying one can't be made.) But it is a another place that reducing health care costs, via a single or all payer system, partially pays for itself because lower health care costs lower a cost that is being deducted.
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