A bill aimed at killing the medical device tax would cost the government about $30 billion a year in revenues over a decade, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.), would do away with a 2.3% levy on all U.S. sales of medical devices, set to go into effect next year.
Last week the House Ways & Means Committee approved Paulsen’s measure, sending it to the full House floor for a vote that could happen as soon as this week.
Yesterday the CBO estimated that the bill, House Resolution 436, "would reduce revenues by $29.1 billion over the 2012-2022 period."
"The entire revenue reduction would result from a reduction in on-budget revenues and thus pay-as-you-go procedures apply," according to the bureau.
The Ways & Means hearing turned fractious when Democrats called for Republicans to detail how they’d replace the lost revenues as required by the so-called "pay-go" rule.
Late last week the GOPers obliged, releasing a plan designed to generate $43.9 billion over 10 years – more than enough to cover the gap if the med-tech tax is repealed.
Here’s a look at the CBO’s estimates on the cost of repealing the tax from 2012 to 2022:
| CBO Estimate of Pay-As-You Go Effects of HR 436 (by fiscal year, $M) | |||||||||||
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | TOTAL |
| $0 | $1,742 | $2,562 | $2,668 | $2,771 | $2,889 | $3,012 | $3,143 | $3,280 | $3,428 | $3,582 | $29,076 |
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