Employer-Sponsored Healthcare Tax Exclusion | Position Paper

This position paper defends the tax-free treatment of employer-sponsored health insurance, which covers nearly 180 million Americans. It argues that eliminating or reducing the healthcare tax exclusion would shift costs to employers and employees, undermining the viability of the employer-sponsored system. For every $1 of federal tax expenditure, employers invest $5.36 in health benefits. The Council urges Congress to protect this exclusion while pursuing transparency and market competition reforms to improve affordability without dismantling existing coverage structures.