Mass.seeks 5-7% tax sought on firms for healthcare

The Boston Globe reports:

House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi yesterday unveiled a plan to impose a payroll tax of 5 to 7 percent on Massachusetts employers that do not provide health insurance for their workers.

The proposed levy, part of a comprehensive House package designed to expand health insurance coverage to nearly all state residents, would apply to businesses with more than 10 workers.

Businesses with fewer than 100 employees would pay 5 percent; businesses with 100 or more would pay 7 percent. The levy would be phased in over 18 months.

Business groups quickly branded it a ''jobs tax" that would make the state less competitive.

''You've got employers who are facing the highest energy costs, the highest wages, the highest unemployment insurance, the highest real estate costs -- and to now put this on? You're going to be in a position where the job growth isn't there, where people aren't making a decision to grow their business," said Bill Vernon, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.

Whatever happened to "equal protection under the law"? Now you know why Massachusetts is losing jobs because they can't compete.