As part of the health care reform law (the Affordable Health Care Act, also commonly called Obamacare), two new income-related taxes will also take effect as of January 1, 2013.
New Surtax
A new surtax of 3.8% will be imposed on unearned income (capital gains, dividends, interest, royalties, rent, etc.) of individuals earning more than $200,000 and couples earning more than $250,000. This increases capital gains and dividends rates to 18.8% for those making $200,000/$250,000 and 23.8% for those earning more than $400,000/$450,000.
Increased Medicare Tax
People in this income category will also see a 0.9% increase in the Medicare tax on their earned income. (This is in addition to increased FICA withholding resulting from the American Tax Relief Act of 2012 passed by Congress on New Year’s day as part of the so-called fiscal cliff negotiations. All working Americans will see the employee portion of the Social Security contributions in their paychecks increase by 2%