Like a tractor trailer stuck at a railroad crossing, the House health care reform bill sits on the track waiting for the Senate freight train to come smashing through. Ideologues of both parties want you to believe the big issue is the fate of the public option. But the real battle, as usual, will be where the money comes from.

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These are truly irreconcilable differences. The Senate will never agree to a bill with rate increases--especially since the Obama administration and congressional Democrats are already counting on allowing the 2001 Bush rate reductions on incomes over $250,000 to expire in 2011. On the other side of the Hill, 157 House Democrats are committed to rejecting the Senate-proposed excise tax. Unions who have negotiated generous health plans for their members are apoplectic at the possibility of any scaling back of the tax benefits for employer provided health care. Democrats beholden to the unions will not concede without a huge fight.

View TaxAnalysts'  Martin Sullivan's opinion in its entirety on TAX.com.