Obamacare Taxes Hit All Income Levels

With Obamacare set to be implemented next year, several taxes associated with the measure already have gone into effect, with new levies on Americans of all income levels.

Individuals making more than $200,000 and families making $250,000 this year will have to pay an additional 0.9 percentage points in Medicare taxes, Those same levels will also be subject to additional new Medicare taxes of 3.8 percent on their investment income.
The financial services company Motley Fool detailed the new taxes stemming from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in a report, “Motley Fool ONE Tax Center.”

Many high earners were just hit with higher taxes when Congress failed to pass an extension of the so-called Bush tax cuts on incomes over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for joint filers, the website points out.

Lower-income earners, already paying 2 percent more of their income to the government this year after the payroll-tax holiday expired, will see new limits on contributions to flexible spending accounts, with a ceiling of $2,500 on the amount that can shielded from taxes for future healthcare costs.

Taxpayers who itemize their personal deductions will not be able to write off as much for medical expenses. Only healthcare costs above 10 percent of gross income can now be deducted, up from 7.5 percent before Obamacare.