Kin Cheung/AP
Sheldon Adelson.
Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson could stand to benefit heavily from the House plan to overhaul America's healthcare system.A new report from the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, found that Adelson could see his tax bill slashed by millions of dollars if the American Health Care Act becomes law.
A Business Insider analysis of the report determined that Adelson could see his tax bill decline by about $43.5 million in 2017 if the AHCA is passed and the tax effect is retroactive to the current year.
The primary way Adelson would benefit is the repeal of Obamacare's Net Investment Income Tax, which adds a 3.8% tax to investment income - from dividends and capital gains - for people with over $200,000 in annual earnings (or couples with over $250,000).
Based on Adelson's most recent Form 4 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the megadonor and his family own 392,735,403 shares of his casino company, Las Vegas Sands.
Las Vegas Sands pays an annualized dividend of $2.92 per share, meaning that with Adelson's current ownership stake he would receive about $1.14 billion in income via those dividends in 2017.
Adelson would be subject to the 3.8% tax NIIT. If the AHCA repeals that tax, the casino magnate will avoid nearly $44 million in payments.
This does not account for any capital gains that Adelson may accrue through sales of his shares or any income from other investment vehicles Adelson owns, which means the savings could be even larger.
The money from this tax goes to fund the expenditures like the expansion of Medicaid and tax credits that offset the cost for people to get insurance from the individual health insurance exchanges.
Adelson is worth roughly $36 billion. Based on the spending per Medicaid recipient in 2014, a $44 million break would be equivalent to the government's Medicaid bill to cover about 7,670 Americans.