The Honorable Sen. John McCain
241 Russell Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington DC 20510
Dear Senator McCain ,
We wish to compliment you on your ability to think creatively about problems facing this great country, and
for arriving at solutions that have not been considered in the past by either party.
Of particular note is your proposal of a tax credit for health care. Your trust in the American citizens
to make their own decisions is a very welcome relief from the current programs that give companies and
the government excessive control over the wellbeing of individual families. We would like to suggest
three improvements to your proposal:
- Make the amount age-rated. (Insurance premiums for citizens in their 50's and early 60's are two to three times your proposed tax credit amount, while younger individuals can already get good coverage for as little as half the amount proposed.)
- Distribute the federal contribution to health care via some method other than a tax credit.
- The tax code should no longer be a vehicle by which social benefits are distributed. Then the IRS can
focus on its main job, the collection of taxes. This consistency of mission should allow the
agency to be far more efficient.
- Simplification of the tax code is a goal we can all agree on.
- We doubt that people will look favorably upon the IRS as a benefit provider. That agency is
not known for its compassion.
- Why should taxpayers have to wait several months into the next year to have access to that benefit? The
benefits are expected to be spent during the year. We suggest that social benefits be provided monthly
to accounts set up for this purpose (similar to HSA's).
- It looks to us like the tax credit approach (proposed by both candidates) is being used to
disguise an increase in social programs as a tax cut.
- Specifically limit this benefit to citizens of the United States. While this country bases its
government on the ideas in the Declaration of Independence that certain rights belong to all human
beings, the benefit contemplated by this proposal is not among them. It would be well if that
were communicated as this benefit is rolled out. Each person in this country will be treated
with the rights we recognize as belonging to all human beings until they forfeit them by
committing a crime. Other benefits are to be considered choices made by this country to care for
its citizens. In other words, a human being is not entitled to health insurance, but we can choose to
be sure that all citizens have a minimal level of health care benefits.
For other proposals that fit your domestic policy, please see www.ComingTogether.info. You will find specifics on making benefit distribution more efficient, ideas on tax reform, and a comprehensive welfare reform plan.
Thank you for considering our input.
God bless you,
[Name]