Research Report Growth in the Exclusion of Employer Health Premiums
Adam Carasso
Display Date
File
File
Download Report
(500.97 KB)

The employer exclusion of contributions for medical insurance premiums and medical care from employee income taxes is the single largest tax expenditure in the federal budget, worth $112 billion in fiscal year 2005. Even when adjusting for growth in medical prices, the employer exclusion still grows in real terms between 1988 and 2002 (a 36 percent rise). Yet, as health tax expenditures for employer-sponsored insurance have grown, the uninsured population has also grown, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the nonelderly population.
Research Areas Economic mobility and inequality Taxes and budgets
Tags Individual taxes Federal budget and economy Income and wealth distribution