Will Congressman Jerry McNerney Hike Taxes on Thoratec Corporation Workers in Pleasanton?
New Obama healthcare plan endangers 72,485 California jobs
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Buried in the latest government healthcare plan proposed by President Obama is a new tax on medical device manufacturers, who make everything from prosthetic limbs to pacemakers. The bill imposes a new tax of $2 billion per year (rising to $3 billion in 2017) on the industry. Congressman Jerry McNerney will have a chance to vote on this bill later this year.
This new tax will particularly hit the Thoratec Corporation facility in Pleasanton, California. It employs 1,200 people—workers who may find themselves with a pink slip instead of a paycheck if this jobs-killing tax hike goes through.
“Washington politicians like to talk about jobs, but speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama want to raise taxes on the medical device industry that will kill jobs,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “Congressman Jerry McNerney can talk all he wants. Now he has a choice to vote with the Democrat leadership and kill jobs in California or to summon the courage to vote against the Democrat leadership and protect those jobs.”
Statewide, there are 72,485 employees working for the medical device industry. One out of every 209 workers in California is employed in the medical device industry. The average medical device worker in California earns $50,000, higher than the state average of $39,700. Statewide, there were $26,934,535 million in medical device sales in California in the latest reporting year.
Congressman Jerry McNerney VOTED FOR this same tax hike just last year. How will the Congressman vote this time?
