Congressional taxing power has always been unlimited - that's the point Roberts is making. Congress has always had the power to pass taxes - including those on non-activity.
And yet, for 225 years, they never thought to do so, because it would mean certain loss. But now, inadvertently, and over loud protestations to the contrary, Congress has been deemed to have passed on a tax on non-activity.
Even better, it's horribly non-progressive. Rich, middle, poor & homeless are all liable for the same tax. Wait until the 20% who are currently on SNAP and/or receiving EBT cards are on the hook for thousands $ each year. Or the millions of illegals who get away scot free in the cash economy.
But wait, it's gets even better: the DHS cannot unilaterally issue waivers on taxes to favored groups like unions, churches, etc. Nope, this baby is now in the hands of the IRS - the most oppressive TLA besides the TSA.
Roberts just did us a favor by making every person, even the most egregious member of the FSA, now on the hook for an enormous personal tax. How are they gonna react?
You and I are in agreement.
Let us suffer the slings and arrows together.
Roberts has made a very sly ruling that will definitely help in defeating the Left. This ruling has emboldened the Tea Party, the Catholics and the Libertarians. I predict after everyone calms down this will be apparent.
“Congressional taxing power has always been unlimited”
No, it hasn’t. If you’ll remember it used to be that they could only raise them for the purposes of carrying out their enumerated powers. Before the Helvering decision, that is. Then they could only tax to promote the “general welfare.” But of course SCOTUS never struck down a law thereafter for promoting the welfare of some particular group as opposed to the nation as a whole. They left it up to Congress.
It also used to be that they couldn’t lay direct taxes, and that taxes had to be apportioned among the states. That is, until the 16th amendment. But that amendment only empowered them to tax income. Poll taxes, so far as I know, are still illegal. Since when can the feds lay a tax on the head of a man who has no insurance coverage?
Beyond that, there is a difference between engineering certain behavior via taxes/penalties and mandating behavior which is to be enforced via taxes/penalties. This may be a slight point, but I don’t see how they justify the mandate. To my mind it must at most be implied.