In case you’ve tried to block the whole ObamaCare debate from your mind, this video clip shows President Obama sternly correcting George Stephanopolous when the ABC host called the individual mandate “a tax.”
Oh, how times change. Now the administration is arguing in court that it really is a tax.
Spectator.org has the mind-boggling story:
In order to protect the new national health care law from legal challenges, the Obama administration has been forced to argue that the individual mandate represents a tax — even though Obama himself argued the exact opposite while campaigning to pass the legislation.
Late last night, the Obama Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss the Florida-based lawsuit against the health care law, arguing that the court lacks jurisdiction and that the State of Florida and fellow plaintiffs haven’t presented a claim for which the court can grant relief. To bolster its case, the DOJ cited the Anti-Injunction Act, which restricts courts from interfering with the government’s ability to collect taxes.
The Act, according to a DOJ memo supporting the motion to dismiss, says that “no suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax shall be maintained in any court by any person, whether or not such person is the person against whom such tax was assessed.” The memo goes on to say that it makes no difference whether the disputed payment it is called a “tax” or “penalty,” because either way, it’s “assessed and collected in the same manner” by the Internal Revenue Service.
Would it be too harsh if we called these guys lying sacks of excrement?
(We think that may have been the second time today we used that phrase “lying sacks of excrement” in regard to the Obama administration. We apologize for our lack of originality.
This is also the second time today we’ve apologized. We also apologize for trying to be accurate. Oops. That makes it three times.
Source: Spectator.org
