Many companies were hoping the medical device tax would perish on the rocks at the bottom of many fiscal cliffs that Washington has been navigating lately.
No such luck, yet; it seems to have the tenacity of an MRSA infection.
If it’s not going to just go away, can some combination of lobbyists and legislators alter the tax to make it more equitable?
Here are 3 nips and tucks that could preserve some of the revenue:
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- Make the tax on profits, not revenue. this part of the tax seems needlessly punitive. I think the device industry has a lot of painful adjustments ahead — just to join the rest of the American businesses in the 21st century. “Right-sizing” is a reality for everyone, and innovate or die has never been more true. However, we need these jobs and taxing a business on revenue seems designed to kill them.
- Create a sliding scale. Several aspects of the Affordable Care Act take business size into account. Small businesses don’t have to follow the same rules as big ones when it comes to offering health insurance. Why not take the same approach with the device tax to protect device makers who are also small businesses?
- Consider what a device does before taxing it. Should companies that make scalpels or hospital beds be taxed the same as companies that make devices that are implanted in the human body? Are both of these product categories contributing equally to the high cost of healthcare? I’m sure that the makers of durable goods used in a hospital are always innovating and improving their products, but are prices going up at the same rate?
Are there other ways to keep some of the expected $29 billion over the next 10 years, but make the tax a little more fair?
