As the details of health care reform legislation solidify, a hotly contested topic –- taxes on employer-sponsored benefits -– has come under fire, even from within the Democratic Party.
Several Democratic senators recently spoke out against a tax on employee health insurance benefits that would help foot the bill for health care reform, which has been estimated to reach $1 trillion over 10 years.
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is pushing the idea of a benefits tax as a way to pay for reform while controlling future costs. Some Republicans have warmed to the idea as well, but it has been strongly opposed by labor unions.
"It's clearly a very difficult issue. ... You go to the public to ask them what they think and they don't like it," said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). Many Democratic senators expressed concern that such a measure would cost more votes from their own party than they would gain from the Republicans, according to a report from the Associated Press.
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