The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 10

10A Monday, July 20, 2009 State Edition The Des Moines Register RICH FROM PAGE 1A skyrocket by more than $440,000. A similar family making $800,000 a year would get a tax increase of $30,000, according an analysis by the financial services firm Deloitte Tax. Taxing the rich to pay for health insurance would represent a significant departure from the way Americans have financed safety net programs in the past. Both Social Security and Medicare are supported by broad based payroll taxes. Although the rich pay more they have bigger incomes the burden is shared by the middle class and even the working poor.

By contrast, the health care plan working its way through the House would impose $544 billion in new taxes over the next decade on just 1.2 percent of households joint filers making more than $350,000 a year. The bill would impose new 5.4 percent income surtax on couples making more than $1 million a year, starting in 2011. Couples making more than $350,000 would have to pay a 1 percent surtax, and those making more than $500,000 would pay 1.5 percent surtax. If certain savings in the health care system are not achieved by 2013, the surtax would rise to 2 percent for families making more than $350,000 and to 3 percent for those making more than $500,000. Democrats note that for most affected taxpayers, the surtax would be far smaller.

"What we're talking about is frankly very, very small amounts for the overwhelming majority of people who will pay it," said Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala. The top marginal income tax rate now is 35 percent, on income above $372,950. Obama wants to boost the top rate to 39.6 percent in 2011 by allowing some tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush to expire.

'The House Democrats' proposed health care surtax would increase the top rate to 45 percent, making it the highest top rate since 1986, when it was 50 percent. Republicans complain that some taxpayers would face marginal tax rates above 50 percent, when federal and state taxes are combined. They also say that tax increases on the wealthy hurt small-business owners who typically pay their business taxes on their individual returns. Democrats say the tax increases would affect only 4.1 percent of tax filers who report small-business income. Those small businesses, however, tend to the ones that employ the most workers, National Federation of Independent Business data show.

"When tax rates go too high, people lose the incentive to build new businesses and create jobs," said Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif. Obama regularly portrays the wealthy as big winners under Bush, noting that their taxes dropped and incomes soared during Bush's eight years in office. "I think the best way fund (health care) is for people like myself, who have been very lucky, to pay a little bit more," Obama said recently. The argument, however, omits the fact that Bush also cut taxes for middleand low-income people.

Their incomes didn't jump as much as those of the wealthy, but effective federal tax rates for middleincome and low-wage workers are at or near 30-year lows. This year, 47 percent of ers won't owe any federal income taxes, according to separate projections the Tax Policy Center and Deloitte Tax. "Right now, if you are middie class or below, you are not expected to help pay solve these problems," said Clint Stretch of Deloitte. Jason Peter "Jay Wagner, an Iowa newsman, died July 15, 2009 at Mercy Hospice in Johnston of melanoma. He was surrounded by family members and friends, and secure in the knowledge that he was greatly loved.

He was 45 years old. Jay was a man of many passions. He loved Iowa, newspapers, the state fair, RAGBRAI, cooking, state history and home-grown tomatoes. He loved weekends at Okoboji with his family and small-town Fourth of July parades with his friends. He loved reading to his daughter, playing GameBoy with his son and watching "The Simpsons" with both.

He loved God, his faith and his Church. He loved life, loved to laugh, and did so often, whether he was writing a story on deadline or spending his final days in the hospice. The only people who weren't his friends were the people he hadn't yet met. Jay's interests ranged from what bills were pending in the Iowa Legislature to how to cook the perfect risotto. He once spent a year eating nothing but food grown in Iowa.

He was a loyal fan of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings, perhaps the only instance in which his loyalties crossed the Iowa border. He was an accomplished magician "The Great Jason" who often performed tricks at birthday parties for the children of friends. Jay was born March 26, 1964 in Worthington, MN, to Peter W. and Constance J. (Johansen) Wagner, joining older brother Jeffrey at home in Sibley, IA.

On November 1, 1997, Jay married CeCelia C. "CeCe" Ibson of Des Moines. The couple joyfully welcomed two children, daughter, Zoey Victoria in 1998 and son, Kiernan Gabriel in 2001. Jay and CeCe divorced in 2007 and remarried June 7, 2008. Jay's family owned the N'West Iowa Review in Sheldon, and Jay's journalism career began when he was 14 years old and had his byline published on a sports story.

He wrote a weekly column for the paper off and on for more than 30 years, stopping only when his health would no longer allow it. The Re Review has won the General Excellence Award from the Iowa Newspaper Association 17 times, and Jay was a big contributor to that record of success. Jay loved telling stories and helping to improve the stories of others, leading to a lifelong career as a reporter and editor. In the mid-1980s, he worked as a news producer at KTIV in Sioux City. He then worked as a reporter at the Sioux Falls, S.D.

Argus-Leader, leaving in 1992 to take a full-time position as a writer and editor at the The Des Moines Register. He worked there as a reporter, state editor and rural affairs editor, and was famous in the newsroom for his Top 10 lists. He helped cover the historic floods of 1993. In 1997, Jay became editor of The Iowan magazine. In 2001, he became editorial director of Business Publications overseeing The Business Record, CityView, DSM and other publications.

Over the years, he also continued writing for The Iowa Independent website, Newsweek magazine, the Sheldon N'West Iowa Review, Discover, Okoboji Magazine and the Sheldon Mail Sun. Jay's last column and editorial ran in the June 13, 2009 issue of the Review. Jay, and the publications he led, received a multitude of awards from the Iowa Newspaper Association, the National Newspaper Association and the International Regional Magazine Association. He received the INA's award for Outstanding Young Iowa Journalist in 1988 and its Distinguished Service Award in 2002, believed to be the only time an Iowa journalist has been awarded both. Jay's love of Iowa and his gift for writing culminated in the publication of is for Hawkeye, a children's book, in 2003.

Jay dedicated the book "to CeCe, who gave me Zoey and Kiernan, my two favorite little Iowans." He embraced new technological developments in journalism, and was sending updates via Twitter not long after he emerged from brain surgery in October 2008. Jay was first diagnosed with melanoma in February 2007, and he never gave up in his fight to beat it. It was a battle waged with faith, grace, courage, and a sense of humor that greatly impressed, but did not surprise, the many people who loved him. He said his tombstone should read, "I Should Have Taken Better Notes." In Hospice, he joked to his mother, "When I die, I'm really going to miss this place." He told a friend that the best part of having a terminal disease was, "I don't have to watch the Vikings blow another lead." Jay is survived by his wife, CeCe Ibson, and children, Zoey and Kiernan Wagner, of Des Moines; his parents, Peter W. and Connie Wagner, of Sibley; his brother, Jeff (Myrna) of Sheldon, IA; in-laws, M.O.

"Bud" and Roberta Kahn, of Des Moines; CeCe's siblings Cyndi (Robert) Grogger, of Columbia, MO; Gary (Janie) Kahn of Newton; Laurie Kahn of Phoenix, AZ; and Matthew (Melinda) Kahn of Spartanburg, SC; nieces and nephews, W. Samuel and Katharine Wagner; Dr. Mitchell Humphries; Megan, Mollie and Robert Kahn; and Jonathan, Kathryn and LeighAnn Kahn; greatgrandmother, Ann Wagner, of Sioux Falls, SD; aunts and uncles, Robert of Wagner of Rapid City, SD; Tom (Tenia) Wagner of Omaha, NE; John (Annie) Wagner Sioux Falls, SD; and Cindy (Robert) Parry of Watertown, SD. Jay's family will receive visitors on Sunday, July 19, 2009 from 3 to 5 p.m at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Beaverdale. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Holy Trinity on Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10 a.m.

A memorial service in Sibley, IA is being planned for a later date. Jay was a mentor and inspiration to countless journalists. To honor that, the family is establishing the Jay P. Wagner Scholarship through the Iowa Newspaper Association. In lieu of flowers, the family would request contributions to the scholarship fund, mailed to Smith, Schneider, Stiles Serangeli, PC, 604 Locust, Suite 1000, Des Moines, IA 50309.

McLaren's Chapel Dignity at Resthaven Cemetery Health care plan is in flux, administration officials note By PHILIP ELLIOTT Associated Press Washington, D.C. Administration officials defended President Barack Obama's health care proposals Sunday and urged a skeptical public not to judge the Democrats' overhaul until Congress writes a final version. The officials sought to refute GOP objections to major changes in how Americans get health care. "This is a work in progress," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said. Obama campaigned on a promise to offer affordable health care to all Americans, but the recession and a deepening budget deficit have made it difficult to win support for costly new programs.

"The House has one approach. We put forward JASON PETER "JAY WAGNER Des Moines a different approach. The Senate is considering yet more options," White House budget director Peter Orszag said. "The key thing is we need to get there in a way that is deficit neutral." Paying for the health care plan remains the major challenge, underscored by a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that emerging House legislation would increase deficits by $239 billion over a decade. "I don't follow why we've got to spend another $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, most people estimate, on top of the $2.5 trillion we're already spending in this country and yet still have, under one estimate, at least 33 million people without health insurance," said Sen.

Orrin Hatch, R- Utah. Democrats insisted the budget analysis ignores savings. "It's clear that they're working with different assumptions than the White House and the Congress is," said Rep. Charlie Rangel, chairman of the House tax-writing committee. Even so, the politics of adding to the deficit or raising taxes is tricky.

Obama officials have refused to rule out a tax on the wealthiest Americans and oppose a tax on employer-provided health care benefits. Republicans paint Obama's proposals as a massive tax that would hurt small businesses. Sebelius appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press." Orszag spoke with "Fox News Sunday" and CNN's "State of the Union." Hatch and Rangel appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation." How new taxes would hit wealthy Associated Press The health care bill working its way through the House would impose $544 billion in new taxes over the next decade on families making more than $350,000 a year, atop the president's plan to increase the top tax rates. According to the Deloitte Tax financial services firm, here's how the tax increases would affect families at different incomes. Fourperson families include two minor children.

Projec- CHARLES RICHARDSON West Des Moines Charles Richardson, CLU, 73, is at rest after his long struggle with illness. A Memorial service will be held 11 a.m., Wednesday at West Des Moines United Methodist Church. A private burial will be held at Resthaven Cemetery prior to the memorial service. Charles is survived by his daughter, Jill Richardson; son, Chris (Cynthia) Richardson; grandson, Jake; two brothers, Robert (Nona) and Ron (Susan); sister, Mary (Ron) Reedy, and ex-wife, Barbara (Hill) Boyle. He was preceded in death by his parents, Horace and Ruth (Downing) Richardson of Clarinda, IA; and second wife, Dixie.

Memorials contributions may be directed to Charles's family. McLaren's Chapel Dignity at Resthaven Cemetery PATRICIA R. CLINE Winterset Patricia R. Cline, 84, of Winterset, IA, died Friday, July 18, 2009, at the Winterset Care Center North. A visitation will be held 2 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, July 22, 2009, at Ochiltree Funeral Service Aftercare in Winterset, with the family present to receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, July 23, 2009, at Ochiltree Funeral Service. Burial will be the Winterset Cemetery, Winterset. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to the Middle River Hospice, Winterset Care Center North's Residents Activity Fund and Madison Square Assisted Living Community all of Winterset. On-line condolences may be directed to the family at www.ochiltree.com. Patricia Rose Bricker was born November 23, 1924, in Winterset, the only child of Earl Emory and Phyllis Belle (Brittain) Bricker.

Pat graduated from Winterset High School in 1943. Her marriage to Glenn Vincent Cline took place on March 24, 1943, in Nashua, IA, and to this union, five children were born. Glenn preceded her in death on May 29, 2007. Pat was a devoted mother who was a homemaker all of her married life. Along with her husband, they founded and operated Cline's Orchard north of Winterset from 1975 to 1996.

Pat was a member of the First United Presbyterian Church where she was active as a Sunday School Teacher. She was interested in politics and was proud to have served on the Madison County election committee for many years. She was a member of the Madison County Antique Club, the Thursday Guild Club as well as numerous other local clubs throughout the years. She especially enjoyed collecting antiques, sewing, playing cards and winters in Florida. She is survived by her five sons, Dennis Cline of Chester, VA, Steve Cline of Pleasant Hill, Robert (Marty) Cline of Winterset, Kevin (Teresa) Cline of Des Moines, David (Mary) Cline of Patterson; six grandchildren, Kim (Al) Leonard, Ian (Dawn) Cline, Sara (Chris) Brown, Lindsay Cline, Emily Cline and Sherri White; eight great- grandchildren, Jasmine Cline, Troyce White, Utonda White, Tanner White, Trey White, Alyse Leonard, Tamara Dhabolt and Isabella Brown; one greatgreat -grandchild, Allianna Cline; and several cousins.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; and a grandson, Stacy White. Ochiltree Funeral Service Winterset 515,462.4080 HELEN LOUISE FLOYD COOPER Winterset Helen Louise Cooper, 86, died Saturday, July 18, 2009, at home in Winterset after a courageous fiveyear battle with cancer. A celebration of life will be held at 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 22, 2009, at the Trinity United Presbyterian Church in Indianola. Visitation will be one hour prior to services at the Trinity United Presbyterian Church. A private burial of the cremains will be held prior to the visitation.

Helen Louise Cooper, the daughter of Alva Dale and Anna Holmes Taylor was born on November 9, 1922. She was married to David S. Floyd on November 28, 1941. She then was married to Clayton C. Cooper in 1967.

Helen was a devoted mother and homemaker. She is survived by her daughters, Sandra L. Floyd of Winterset, IA and Sherry Floyd Koch of Taos, NM; son, John D. Floyd (Becky) of Apple Valley, MN; step-daughters, Cathy Thomson (Jim) of Canada and Rosemary Meyers of Indianola, IA; brothers, Arthur Dale Taylor of Cedar Rapids, IA and Terrance Taylor of Gunlock, UT; grandchildren, Michael D. Fry of Des Moines, IA, Graham and Taylor and Katie Floyd of Apple Valley, MN, Jacob Meyers of Nebraska, Tammy Fry Robbins of Perry, IA, and Lori Butler of Des Moines, IA, Michael Cooper, Michelle Andritsakos, Lee Anne and Danny Thomson of Canada; great-grandchildren, Mache Rife, Zachary Fry, Dan and Steve Robbins, Zachary Barton, Michelle Hixson, Cody Hart, Holden Floyd, Abbegail, Baden and Luke Thomson, Conor and I Zoe Andritsakos; and one great-great granddaughter, Maliya Rife.

Helen was preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Anita L. Stewart and Marie Clarice Taylor; daughter, Patricia K. Butler; stepson, Allen Cooper; and granddaughter, Julie A. Hart. Helen lived her entire life in Iowa, raising her children in Indianola and spent the last five years living with her daughter, Sandra, in Winterset.

Online condolences may be made at www.overtonfunerals.com OVERTON FUNERAL HOME Indianola, Iowa The Des Moines Register has several obituary options available including free online obituaries with reference in a print directory as well as full obituaries in print and online for a fee per line. Please consult your funeral director, visit us online, or call 515-284-8021 for more information. All obituaries may be viewed online for 120 days at www.DesMoinesRegister.com ROBERT E. BRENT Pleasantville tions assume a typical mix of earned income, capital gains and itemized deductions at each income level: A family of four making $450,000 a year would pay $103,600 in federal income taxes, an increase of $1,000. A single filer making $450,000 a year would pay $112,200 in federal income taxes, an increase of $7,100.

A family of four making $800,000 a year would pay $220,800 in federal income taxes, an increase of $30,000. A single filer making $800,000 a year would pay $231,300 in federal income taxes, an increase of $30,700. A family of four making $5 million a year would pay $1.81 million in federal income taxes, an increase of $443,500. A single filer making $5 million a year would pay $1.83 million in federal income taxes, an increase of $452,000. Pleasantville A Mass of Christian Burial for Robert E.

Brent, age 92, of Pleasantville, will be held on Tuesday at St. Anthony's Catholic Church at 10:30 a.m. Burial will follow in Graceland Cemetery. Visitation will begin after 10 a.m. on Monday at the Mason Funeral Home where there will be a prayer service at 5:30 p.m.

and the family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. For those desiring, memorial contributions may be made to the Comfort House of Pella. Online condolences may be made at bertrandfuneralhomes.com.