To the editor:
Remember the shell game? The con artist has a pea that he hides under one of three cups. Then he shuffles the cups around the table while you watch like a hawk. If you can pick out the cup with the pea you win. But the hand is quicker than the eye and you always lose.
That is the way it is with our taxes. We all know the government needs money to pay for the services we demand but nobody wants to pay his share. So we each point at somebody else and, when the umpire calls time, the one most people are pointing at is designated as "IT" and will pay the taxes.
In our health care system "IT" is the employer. So the employer pays and we are off the hook. We heave a sigh of relief, but then we look more closely. The employer does not print money — it comes from somewhere. Surely not out of his profits.
Looking more closely it is clear that his employees are suffering salary cuts to pay the health care fees. So the employees pay, at least in part. To the extent that the employer can raise prices the consumer also pays. Oops - stuck again!
We are all "IT." The idea that the employer pays for health care is just an illusion. The hand is quicker than the eye. In the end we all pay for health care. Why not do the honest and responsible thing and add it to our income tax? A fair health care system is impossible when we are all trying to dump the entire burden on somebody else.
Gus Rabson
Haverhill
