02.04.13
Out, D***ed Tax!
2012: The industry amassed quite an impressive militia to fight a 2.3 percent excise tax on total company revenue—soldiers included trade groups like the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) and Medical Device Manufacturers Association as well as such OEMs as Baxter Healthcare, Boston Scientific Corp., Covidien plc, Cardinal Health and Hospira Inc. U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) led the battalion to a small but significant late-spring victory on Capitol Hill, convincing the U.S. House of Representatives to repeal the $30 billion levy. But the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate retaliated by ignoring Paulsen’s Protect Medical Innovation Act of 2011, thereby nullifying it just in time for its Jan. 1 implementation.
2013: The U.S. Senate may have won the battle, but war is far from over. Paulsen and his mercenaries are gearing up for another battle with Congress, hoping its reinforcements are easier to defeat this time around. However, public policy experts doubt the tax repeal revolution will triumph. “The odds are close to zero,” Donald F. Kettl, dean of the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, predicted to Minneapolis, Minn.-based Star Tribune reporter Jim Spencer. “Under normal circumstances, it’s harder to stop a tax once it’s enacted. You have to reverse the whole legislative process.” Even if Paulsen can pull off such a feat, his adversaries have an ace up their sleeve—a presidential veto. “The healthcare bill is going to provide medical device companies 30 million new customers,” President Obama told The Weekly Standard of Washington, D.C., in December. “It’s going to be great for business, and they’re really doing well right now.”
2012: The industry amassed quite an impressive militia to fight a 2.3 percent excise tax on total company revenue—soldiers included trade groups like the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) and Medical Device Manufacturers Association as well as such OEMs as Baxter Healthcare, Boston Scientific Corp., Covidien plc, Cardinal Health and Hospira Inc. U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) led the battalion to a small but significant late-spring victory on Capitol Hill, convincing the U.S. House of Representatives to repeal the $30 billion levy. But the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate retaliated by ignoring Paulsen’s Protect Medical Innovation Act of 2011, thereby nullifying it just in time for its Jan. 1 implementation.
2013: The U.S. Senate may have won the battle, but war is far from over. Paulsen and his mercenaries are gearing up for another battle with Congress, hoping its reinforcements are easier to defeat this time around. However, public policy experts doubt the tax repeal revolution will triumph. “The odds are close to zero,” Donald F. Kettl, dean of the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, predicted to Minneapolis, Minn.-based Star Tribune reporter Jim Spencer. “Under normal circumstances, it’s harder to stop a tax once it’s enacted. You have to reverse the whole legislative process.” Even if Paulsen can pull off such a feat, his adversaries have an ace up their sleeve—a presidential veto. “The healthcare bill is going to provide medical device companies 30 million new customers,” President Obama told The Weekly Standard of Washington, D.C., in December. “It’s going to be great for business, and they’re really doing well right now.”