Remember this contentious interview President Obama did with George Stephanoplous back in May 2009? The President insisted that the individual mandate called for under ObamaCare was not a tax and Stephanopolous pulled out the dictionary definition of a tax.
Turns out Obama had his fingers crossed, because his administration has now gone to court to defend ObamaCare and the key to their defense is that the individual mandate is a tax.
The New York Times has the details of the deception:
Administration officials say the tax argument is a linchpin of their legal case in defense of the health care overhaul and its individual mandate, now being challenged in court by more than 20 states and several private organizations.
Under the legislation signed by President Obama in March, most Americans will have to maintain “minimum essential coverage” starting in 2014. Many people will be eligible for federal subsidies to help them pay premiums.
In a brief defending the law, the Justice Department says the requirement for people to carry insurance or pay the penalty is “a valid exercise” of Congress’s power to impose taxes.
Congress can use its taxing power “even for purposes that would exceed its powers under other provisions” of the Constitution, the department said. For more than a century, it added, the Supreme Court has held that Congress can tax activities that it could not reach by using its power to regulate commerce.
Tax everyone! For everything! Tax ‘til the cows come home. Then tax the cows! And their milk! And the cartons it goes in! And then tax the trash you throw the cartons in! And then tax the tax!
Source: New York Times
