As Gomer Pyle used to say

With both the House and Senate having passed tax reform bills, Congress is poised to deliver that “big beautiful Christmas present” that President Donald Trump has been seeking to sign into law. Ensuring families get to keep more of what they earned is not quite a present so much as it is the right thing to do. But if that “gift” is to keep on giving after December 31, lawmakers still need to address a looming tax increase that could leave millions with painful financial hangovers in the New Year and beyond.

Come January 1, 2018, the Health Insurance Tax (appropriately abbreviated HIT) will wallop households across the nation unless Congress acts to prevent its implementation.

The HIT, a provision hidden in the Affordable Care Act of 2010, imposes a fee on each health insurance policy companies sell, fees that are then passed on to the consumer.  The “excise” tax is not tax deductible, which raises its effective rate by 54 percent. That means, between the actual excise (about $14 billion) and the premium hike needed to cover non-deductibility, the HIT would make health care $22 billion more expensive next year – not $22 billion better, just a lot more money from American businesses and consumers for the same coverage.

The costs for this new tax will be heaped on the backs of consumers. Recognizing these negative impacts of the HIT, and that charges for health care plans were already becoming difficult for many to afford, Congress approved a one-year moratorium of the tax for 2017.