Among the many provisions included in the $1.4 trillion spending package that Congress passed and the President signed this week is full repeal of the “Cadillac tax” on high-cost employer-provided health plans. Enacted as part of the Affordable Care Act, the Cadillac tax would have imposed a 40 percent excise tax beginning in 2022 on employer-provided health plans that exceed $11,200 for an individual and $30,100 for a family. The goal of the tax initially was to keep health-care costs down and help pay for the ACA, but Democratic and Republican lawmakers gradually realized that the tax would have ended up hurting working families that have health coverage through their jobs.  [NOTE: To avoid the 40-percent tax hike coming in 2022, many employers were already looking to alter their benefit packages to mitigate the tax hit].