He ruled that the government is free to force people to do whatever it wants, by increasing the ability of the government to tax anything it wants anyway it wants.
I don't think that's quite the right analysis. He ruled that the Feds didn't need to worry about the commerce clause, that they had the freedom to do whatever they wanted if they called it a tax. And he gave them the freedom to call it a penalty for those times when calling it a tax might impose limitations.
The 16th amendment was the first to allow the Federal government to tax individuals, through their incomes. The constitution doesn't allow direct taxation. Roberts has stretched to 16th to allow any and every form of direct taxation by the Feds.
Exactly!