Unions Whine Over Taxes on Cadillac Insurance Plans

Does anyone think the Democrats won't cave on this one?

As Democrats plug away toward final passage of a health insurance overhaul, major labor unions are pressing the Senate to strip a tax on high-value insurance plans from the health care reform bill, putting them at odds with other labor groups getting exemptions from that very requirement.

Unions ranging from the powerful AFL-CIO to the National Education Association to the Communications Workers of America are decrying the provision in the Senate health package that would impose a 40 percent "excise tax" on insurance companies for "Cadillac plans" with high-cost premiums.

The unions claim the tax will end up hitting the middle class hard and say Congress should instead use the House-passed idea of simply increasing income taxes on wealthy individuals.

The unions, and for that matter the Democrats, think there's a never ending supply of rich people who can be tapped for every little scheme they can come up with.

Not true. Rich people are rich partly because they know how to avoid excess taxation and they won't just sit back and let their wealth be stolen by the government.

The union will probably get their way, though, because they represent more voters than do rich people.