Tax proposals draw critics in talks on financing health insurance

Even as Congress weighed options to finance health insurance for tens of millions of Americans, lobbyists mobilized to head off proposed taxes on employer-provided health benefits, alcoholic beverages, and soft drinks. Two dozen options were considered by members of the Senate Finance Committee as they looked for ways to pay for coverage of the uninsured. Almost every option faces opposition from some quarters. Aides to the committee's chairman admonished lobbyists not to criticize the tax options, for fear that such criticism could sink the legislation before it is unveiled.