Tick tick tick What's that sound you are hearing?

It's the sound of the tax time bombs that were put in place in the dead of night on Sunday when Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives rammed through so called health care "reform."

I say "rammed through" because it certainly wasn t bipartisan. Not a single Republican voted for it. It wasn't even truly partisan, since even a number of Democrats voted against it. A plurality within the majority forced it to happen.

It wasn't bicameral, either. The bill the House voted on was one the Senate approved in December -- again, without a single Republican vote. But that same bill wouldn't get through the Senate now, since Democrats no longer control a filibuster-proof super-majority. So in an important sense it is true that this bill was not truly approved by both houses of Congress. And yet the president signed it on Tuesday.

I doubt it will do much for health care in this country. But that's something reasonable people could debate. What there can be debate about is the part of this that affects the economy and the stock market -- the taxes. As taxation expert Howard Gleckman of the non-partisan Tax Policy Center wrote on Monday, "I have never quite seen a law so full of powerful tax bombs attached to delayed fuses."

Before I start telling you about all the new taxes you're going to be paying -- directly and indirectly -- let's start by noting that, all else equal, higher taxes are not good for the economy. Taxes are disincentives to work and to invest. So when taxes go up, people will to some extent work less, and invest less. That simply has to be bad for the economy. There's really no disagreement about that among reasonable people.

What taxes are we talking about here, exactly? The nonpartisan Tax Foundation has a nice list of all of them -- if you have an especially strong stomach, click here to see them all.

Starting on July 1, there will be a 10% tax on all indoor tanning services. Why pick on that particular tiny slice of the U.S. economy? I have no idea. For some reason, it was chosen -- or rather, its customers were chosen -- to be the victims this time.

Is this such a terrible catastrophe for the economy? I suppose not, but if government can impose an arbitrary tax on this particular category of small business, then maybe your small business will be next. The uncertainty of it will keep some unknown number of people from starting small businesses.

Who cares? You should. Historically, small businesses have created more than half the new jobs in this country year in and year out. And in case you hadn't noticed -- as apparently Congress had not -- the unemployment rate is already 9.7%.

Next year the pharmaceutical industry gets hit with $2.5 billion in new taxes, with the amount rising to $4.1 billion by 2018, and the falling back to $2.8 billion after that. Huh? Why these particular numbers? Who knows. Some genius in the Senate just pulled them out of his hat (or elsewhere). The point is that the companies these taxes are being levied upon are the ones who are supposed to deliver the miracle drugs that save lives -- maybe yours. Or maybe not.

In 2013 there will be a 2.3% tax imposed on makers of medical devices. Yeah, the miracle devices that save lives. The devices we need more of. Have you ever heard of anything -- anything! -- that you can get more of by taxing it?

Me neither. Try telling Congress and see if they listen. They won't.

The real killer is another one that goes into effect in 2013. Medicare taxes on wages go up by 0.9% for single-filers earning more than $200,000 and joint filers earning more than $250,000. That's just taxing the "rich" you say?

Maybe -- and spoken like someone who never plans to be "rich."

Those same "rich" will be hit in 2013 with a 3.8% tax on investment income such as dividends and capital gains. The dividend tax rate is already going to go up from 15% to 39.6% next year if you re in the top tax bracket, so this new levy will make it 44.4%. Capital gains taxes will go from 15% to 20% next year anyway, and this will take them to 23.8%.

That won't just hit the rich. When dividends and capital gains are taxed more, stocks simply have to lose value. It's a law of nature. When the after-tax return on something goes down, the price of that something has to go down too.

And when a stock price goes down, it goes down for everyone, rich and poor. It goes down for Bill Gates and it goes down for the poor toiler who has a couple hundred shares of Google in his 401(k) account.

Don't comfort yourself by assuming that this won't matter until it takes effect in 2013. It matters right now. That's because the new higher taxes will be payable on any investments you make right now, assuming you hold them until 2013 or later. Is there some little small-cap stock you have your eye on, you think you might want to pick up a couple thousand shares for the long run? Think again. Whatever you expected to make on that investment, you're now going to make less.

But wait! Don't go away yet! It' gets worse! Those income thresholds of $200,000 and $250,000 aren't adjusted for inflation. So every year, more and more people will get "rich." That means, every year, more and more people will pay the tax.

At this point zealots in favor of health care "reform" will say, "so what?" Perhaps for them it's worth it to slow down the economy by heaping taxes on it, if the result is that everyone gets health insurance.

Therein lies the cruelest tax of all. Under the wonderful law passed on Sunday, everyone is required -- "mandated" is the polite bureaucratic term -- to buy health insurance whether they want it or not.

If there's a healthy young person who just doesn't want to be insured, who wanted to spend the money on a bigger apartment, a new car -- or even a couple hundred shares of Google -- he or she is out of luck. The money goes to health insurance, whether you need it or not, and whether you want it or not.

President Obama bragged, "This is what change looks like" on the night the bill was enacted. In that case, then change looks a lot like taxes. No, it's more than that. Change looks a lot like an Orwellian world in which anything that is not forbidden is compulsory.

Maybe that's the solution to the economy-killing effect of all these new taxes. Maybe Congress should decree a "mandate" that everyone work hard and invest in stocks. It's our only hope.