Dodd says taxing benefits to pay for health care overhaul is a bad idea and unnecessary

Senator says tax on health benefits is unnecessary

WASHINGTON — A leading Democratic senator says the idea of taxing health benefits is a bad one and unnecessary.

Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut says that people are struggling economically at the moment and don’t need a new tax on the health care benefits they receive.

The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, says the committee could propose such a tax.

The Finance Committee is expected to consider a tax on workers whose family health coverage costs $15,000 a year or more in premiums paid by employer and employee combined. Such a tax could help pay for the Obama administration’s proposal to extend health care to the millions of Americans who don’t have it.

Dodd and Grassley appeared on “Fox News Sunday.”