Posted on 12/11/2013 10:10:19 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The nice thing about it being a tax is that pre-empts the Dems moral argument that not signing uup for Obamacare is not complying with the law.
Not paying ‘the tax’ is not complying, but there is no penalty for that.
How has it survived this long when we should have “equal protection” under the law. It boggles my mind the mental gymnastics that had to be used to get around that.
Perhaps read the article .
You think the Dems care about "moral arguments"?
I agree. It would have been a radical reversal of precedent to say this tax was somehow unconstitutional, when we already have so many endless gimmicks in place with the tax code (buy energy-saving cars, get a tax credit, etc.). I would love for nobody to be able to get tax refunds for taxes they haven’t paid, but they do. If the courts were going to judge what is and isn’t a proper tax (or tax refund) it should’ve happened decades ago. There are plenty of stupid laws but it’s not the job of the courts to clean up the messes made by the legislature. The legislature is constitutionally permitted to write stupid laws.
I don’t however understand how the Medicaid expansion was thrown out but the rest of the law was allowed to stand, due to the lack of a severability clause.
Obamacare is still in the courts on several other issues, like the religious liberty issue, so the Supreme Court by no means declared it constitutional on the whole, only on the issues they heard so far. But because of the Medicaid decision, they seem to have precluded the idea that they’ll ever throw out the entire law on any basis, and instead only pick and choose what they like.
I fail to buy Obamacare. I am fined.
And if you fail to go to college you pay more in taxes because you won't get tax credits that others. Is that a fine?
The government could reduce everyone's taxes by the amount of the education credits, then add a penalty back for not getting an education. Mathematically there's no difference between that and what we do now.
What about fining an entire state for not participating in the old 55 mph speed limit program? The federal government laid a tax on gas for the interstate system, then refused to give it back in road spending if states didn't impose the 55mph limit.
The infamy of what Roberts did to us all will live for centuries.
Let me try again slooooly.
Dems moral argument to those others they want to comply.
Not a moral argument to Dems.
Shakespeare often has his characters say things that he does not necessarily believe himself. He was a Christian (I believe they’re still arguing over whether he was a Catholic), so he surely didn’t believe “Neither a borrower nor a lender be,” which directly contradicts Matthew. And it can be argued that Christianity posits the very opposite of this remark that the good dies and the evil lives on.
Probably because the income tax is segmented. Everyone pays the same tax on their first $50,000 or whatever. It’s only the higher bracket of income subject to the higher tax. So no one is charged a different tax on the same portion of income.
If they said all your income is taxed at a higher rate if the total exceeds a certain limit, then you’d have a better equal protection argument. That’s when you’re singling out an individual for different treatment, not singling out the income itself for a different tax.
My fear is that these taxes can trump the bill of rights.
Tax everyone with a gun. Tax everyone that says things the state doesn't like. Tax those with the "wrong" religion. Etc, etc.
There was a time when taxes paid for only government services used. With the income tax amendment, there are now no limits.
A penalty is NOT a tax. Period.
Our Article V Convention ought to take teh opportunity to define the Federal taxing power.
And I think Roberts knows this now, which is why I think he'll over turn it at any opportunity
..
I still want to know what they had on him. Must be somewhat serious or he wouldn’t have caved.
Spot on, the man is at best a coward, pulling back from a situation that could have given him a great spot in history as a good guy.
This article is full of it.
Is this the largest Tax hike in history? And the most destructive?
Why do you think this? I see no evidence that the man won’t stay compromised, either by his own mental processes, or whatever else caused him to change his mind the last weeks before the decision. This was not the only decision he screwed the pooch on.
Me thinks someone had photos of Mr. Roberts eating a wiener.
you could characterize any tax that way. Income tax is a "fine" for earning a certain amount of money. Sales tax is a punishment for buying certain stuff. It's all a tax.
People thought Justice Roberts was cleaver when he declared the noncompliance fines imposed by the ACA were instead a tax. Please correct me if I’m wrong but since any tax levied on the people, according to our constitution, can only come from the House, there was hope that the House would force compliance of that rule, thus killing the ACA. Obviously that was wishful thinking. The real reason Roberts declared the ACA fine as a Tax, other than that was what he told to do, is because an individual can challenge an imposed fine in court and a fine for not purchasing health insurance would, for all intents, have been found unconstitutional in a lower court. The legality of a Federal Tax once it becomes law can not be challenged. With that, Justice Roberts is as wretched and treasonous as the other anti-constitutionalist justices as well as the establishment cabal now running DC.
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