By Tom Howell Jr.
A powerful House committee approved a bill Tuesday to repeal Obamacare’s medical device tax, a provision that’s been criticized by members of both parties as a misguided way to pay for the health overhaul.
The Ways and Means Committee voted 25-14 to repeal the 2.3-percent excise on sales of pacemakers, artificial joints and other devices, with Rep. Ron Kind of Wisconsin the lone Democrat to support the bill.
“It’s an iron law of economics that when you tax something, you get less of it,” Chairman Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, said in a prepared statement. “So we’ve really got our wires crossed here. We want more medical devices. What we want less of is this bureaucratic meddling.”
Democrats on the panel cried foul, saying the GOP failed to come up with the $26 billion needed to replace the revenue that will be lost over the decade by scrapping the tax.
