Cost of tax-exempt health benefits in 1998

The tax expenditure for health benefits is the amount of revenues that the federal government forgoes by exempting the following from the federal inco me and Social Security taxes: (1) employer health benefits contribution, (2 ) health spending under flexible spending plans, and (3) the tax deduction for health expenses. The health tax expenditure was $111.2 billion in 1998. This figure varied from $2,357 per family among those with annual incomes of $100,000 or more to $71 per family among those with annual incomes of le ss than $15,000. Families with incomes of $100,000 or more (10 percent of t he population) accounted for 23.6 percent of ail tax expenditures.