a Medicare tax would now be applied to investment income too: Individuals who earn more than $200,000 and couples over $250,000 would pay an additional 2.9% surtax on unearned income from interest, dividends, annuities, royalties and rents. http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/10/news/economy/medicare_tax.fortune/index.htm
It will be a bummer to lose a perk that we have enjoyed as traders but it has never been fair. under the current system if you work a few years earning earned income you can qualify for medicare. if after you have earned enough credits to qualify for medicare you start trading you are then exempt from the medicare tax no matter how much you earn but you recieve the same medicare benifit as the person who paid in his whole life even though you only paid in a couple of years. how fair is that? just be happy they are not treating it like regular income and taking it off the first 200k of income. with a 200k and above threshold most traders on et will never pay a dime.