It is not for the SCOTUS to set taxes, or even determine which taxes are just. That is the job of the people and their elected representatives. Congress hoped (AGAIN) that the SCOTUS would clean up their disaster, and yet again, the high court said ‘nope, this is your mess, have fun. Oh, and stop lying, it’s a tax.’
The SCOTUS has done a bang up job this week putting out good rulings.
McCain-Feingold was a horrible law, everyone thought that the second the SCOTUS gets it's hands on it, they'll tear it to shreds. Only they didn't. They turned around and said, ‘umm, sure, you can conduct your elections however you please...’ - Translation - Your volley is returned, have a nice day.
Eventually it was shredded by the SCOTUS, but the temporary deviation from the constitution was required to keep the SCOTUS from becoming the ultimate member of Congress. They can NOT do the job of Congress - theirs is the job of protecting the constitution.
In ObamaCare, in the rush to get ‘that last vote’, the liberals just walked square into it. Roberts finally found a limit to the commerce clause - a chain that up until now was infinite. And for a bit of icing, ObamaCare got called what it was, the biggest tax increase in history.
Taxation is in the power of Congress. They could (and have in the past) create top tax rates to seize virtually every penny someone earns. That is an undisputed right, and it isn't within the SCOTUS’ power to restrict that right. That is held by The People, through their representatives.
Can Congress tax your right to prayer? No. Tax your ability to vote? No. Tax your speech? No. But they sure can tax anything they aren't restricted from.
So, yeah, the liberals on the court couldn't wait to let the Chief Justice Roberts write the most important opinion in recent history, and possibly one which will limit the federal government for generations to come, so long as their political goal was kept in sight - that of keeping whatever the liberals want to do alive.
They got it; the ultimate atomic bomb in American politics - you just raised the taxes on the people who actually get up and vote. Good luck with that.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2900693/posts?page=14
Is SCUTUS Taxation on the fundamental right to life?
In other words, the ultimate brilliance of the Supreme Court is for them to come in and “wash their hands’ of the whole mess? What is this, the Pontius Court?
While this may ultimately lead to a good electoral outcome - a valid theory - this is still an awful ruling and damned dangerous.
See my post #4
Yes, Congress has the power to tax but the mandate was NOT a tax until Roberts said it was. He made it fit the Constitution instead of rejecting it under the arguments the government and Ginsberg made: it was legal under the commerce clause.
He screwed us royally. Both with this ruling and for the future. We can’t stop you from refusing to eat broccoli but we can tax your decision not to do so. We can’t stop you from buying bullets but we can tax the hell outta them.
Enough of this crap.
We were pwned.
That is a perversion of the Constitution. The Constitution is supposed to LIMIT the Federal Government. If they don’t have a specific power to tax something, they they should not be able to tax it!