Still here, still flawed, still wrong: the case against the case for taxing the sick
| Table 1: Estimated revenues in a health benefits tax system based on distribution of services and potential taxpayer groups* | ||||
| Variable | Potential taxpayer group | Total | ||
| Top 2% of users | Next 8% of users | Bottom 90% of users | ||
| No. of people | 254 000 | 1 016 000 | 11 430 000 | 12 700 000 |
| Cost of services, $ | 9 126 000 000 | 6 900 600 000 | 6 232 800 000 | 22 259 400 000 |
| Average tax benefit per person, $ | 2 000 | 2 000 | 545 | – |
| Weighted average tax rate, % | 33.56 | 33.56 | 33.56 | – |
| Total revenue, $ | 170 480 000 | 681 920 000 | 2 091 668 787 | 2 944 068 787 |
| *Estimated revenues are based on those given by Gordon and colleagues (page 495), with the following assumptions applied: (1) the publicly funded health expenditures totalled $53 billion, (2) there are 12.7 million taxpayers (as stated by Gordon and colleagues), accounting for 42% of the population, (3) taxpayers use 42% of total services (probably overestimated), (4) 2% of people use 41% of services and 10% use 72% of services, and (5) the weighted average marginal tax rates are the same as those given by Gordon and colleagues. | ||||
