Following Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic damage throughout Florida’s gulf coast, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) met with the Florida Farm Bureau as well as local agricultural producers, farmers, and growers to discuss the storm’s impact. Photos are courtesy of...
Following Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic damage throughout Florida’s Gulf Coast, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) met with local officials and volunteers from the barrier islands to discuss the storm’s impact and current recovery efforts. Photos are courtesy of...
Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 storm, causing catastrophic damage along Florida’s Gulf Coast. It’s crucial for the federal government to expedite state-requested resources and authorize key policy flexibilities in order for Floridians to make a swift...
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) office will host two in-person events to assist constituents affected by Hurricane Helene and help navigate applications for FEMA assistance. Food, water, and additional resources will be available at the events. Event...
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) office will host in-person and virtual Mobile Office Hours next week to assist constituents with federal casework issues in their respective local communities. These office hours offer constituents who do not live close to one of...
Following the impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Debby, some local governments in Florida face looming budget shortfalls that could disrupt disaster recovery efforts. If these local governments receive reimbursements for past hurricanes from the Federal Emergency...
Obamacare’s taxes punish individuals, small businesses
By Senator Marco Rubio
Orlando Sentinel
July 8, 2012
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-07-08/opinion/os-ed-guest-column-rubio-070812-20120706_1_obamacare-individual-mandate-new-taxes
Since the Obamacare debate began in 2009, I have met thousands of real people impacted by this policy. One in particular has always stood out to me: restaurant owner Ben Pumo from Land O’ Lakes.
When Mitt Romney visited Florida on my behalf in the fall of 2010, we stood in Pumo’s kitchen at Benedetto’s Ristorante Italiano and listened to him explain how policies like Obamacare would impact his business and employees he had come to see as family.
Gov. Romney and I heard a widely held concern around the country: Obamacare would impose new costs on his business, it would be a blow to his freedom to hire workers as he pleased without triggering new taxes, and he feared the worst was yet to come as Obamacare had empowered Washington bureaucrats to write new and unpredictable regulations.
With the recent decision on Obamacare, we were reminded of why this news matters far beyond the Supreme Court’s steps. It matters in kitchens like the one in Ben Pumo’s restaurant and for individuals and business owners across the country.
Obamacare is not the president’s signature achievement. It’s the signature example of the leadership failures and broken promises that have defined Obama’s presidency.
When the president assumed office, he faced the worst economy in generations. After throwing an $800 billion stimulus at the problem, he proposed a health-care overhaul with a mandate to force people to buy health insurance. Or else.
He assured the American people that the individual mandate wasn’t a tax. But when Obamacare was challenged in court for violating the Constitution, he changed his tune, arguing that it was permissible under Congress’ taxing power. The court agreed and upheld Obamacare.
The bait and switch proved to be a brilliant legal strategy, but a disastrous economic policy. For millions of Americans, including job creators, Obama’s political win is now an IRS problem for them in the real world.
Obamacare is bad policy that adds around $800 billion of taxes on the American people. It does not discriminate between rich and poor. It hurts everyone.
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