Don't fall for this one

There is an email going around, that I guess is supposed to scare you into taking up arms against the federal government.  I know this kind of stuff floats around on a regular basis, but this one hits close to home because it is on a topic, I actually know a lot about...taxes.  It is interesting to see how they used just enough facts, taken out of context, to come up with a pretty convincing email to make people think their income taxes are going to skyrocket in 2012.

Here's the original email:

All:
>
> Got this from a friend, so I researched it on the Internet, then copied 
> and pasted the applicable section of the law. In addition, I checked this 
> out with my tax consultant and he says it's valid. So I edited the initial 
> E-Mail to eliminate the rhetoric and added my comment at the end about 
> preparing for the tax bite come April 15, 2012. This is NOT intended to be 
> political in any way. Make your own judgments based on your values, the 
> ONLY reasons I'm sending this is to warn you to analyze your financial 
> situation and adjust your withholding accordingly
>
>
>
> I contacted my Congressman about House Bill 3590, the Health Care bill and 
> asked for a summary of changes. The Aid directed me to go to 
> http://www.thomas.gov/, enter "HR 3590" in the search box and look for 
> "CRS Summaries."
>
>
>
> Starting in 2011—next year—the W-2 tax form sent by your employer will be 
> increased to show the value of whatever health insurance you are provided.
>
>
>
> It doesn't matter if you're retired; your gross income WILL go up by the 
> amount of insurance your employer paid for. So you’ll be required to pay 
> taxes on a larger sum of money that you actually received; take the tax 
> form you just finished and see what $15,000.00 or $20,000.00 additional 
> gross income does to your tax debt. That's what you'll pay next year. For 
> many it puts you into a much higher bracket. This is how the government is 
> going to buy insurance for fifteen (15) percent that don't have insurance 
> and it's only part of the tax increases, but it's not really a "tax 
> increase" as such, it a redefinition of your taxable income.
>
>
>
>
>
> Not believing this I researched the CRS Summary and here's what found:
>
>
>
> Title IX Revenue Provisions—Subtitle A: Revenue Offset
>
> "(Sec. 9002) Requires employers to include in the W-2 form of each 
> employee the aggregate cost of applicable employer-sponsored group health 
> coverage that is excludable from the employee's gross income (excluding 
> the value of contributions to flexible spending arrangements)."
>
>
>
> Joan Pryde, is the Senior Tax Editor for the Kiplinger Letters. Go to 
> Kiplinger's and read about the thirteen (13) tax changes for 2010 that 
> could affect you.
>
>
>
> Why am I sending you this? The same reason I hope you forward this to 
> every single person in your address book. People have the right to know 
> the truth because an election is coming in November. So vote 
> intelligently, based on your values. But also adjust your tax withholding, 
> or increase your savings, so that you aren't surprised and put in a jam 
> when your federal income taxes are due on April 15, 2012.



What the World needs is JESUS!

 I love the phrase this is not intended to be political in anyway, but they are flat out lying to you and in my experience people with political intentions are the best liars around!

First off, you really can go to www.thomas.gov and read the Healthcare Reform Bill which is HR 3590.  Notice that they tell you to read the CRS Summary.  CRS stands for Congressional Research Service.  When a new bill is introduced legislative analysts at the Library of Congress write a 250 word or less summary of the major provisions of the bill.  Second they direct you to section 9002.  They actually fairly accurately paraphrase section 9002.  The problem is section 9002 is an amendment section and it only contains the wording that is being added or changed to the original law.  So now you have a summary of an amendment section which is only meaningful when read in the context of the original law.

Notice that nowhere do they suggest you go read section 6051 of the Internal Revenue Code and then take into account the changes made by section 9002 of HR 3590.  If you did, you would learn that the bill does NOT add the value of employer provided insurance to taxable wages reported on a W-2.  It does add another box on the W-2 where employers are required to report the value of employer provided insurance, in much the same way they already report contributions to 401K's or money put into a health savings account, things that have been on your W-2 for years, but not included in taxable income.  The numbers all go in those little boxes at the bottom of your W-2 that only your CPA pays attention to.

So now if you get this email you can know that it just ain't true!

As far as the last statement about the world needing Jesus, well He does have some experience with people lying to incite a mob.