Posted on 10/20/2015 5:22:20 PM PDT by Libloather
Now that ObamaCare is failing in the exact way its critics predicted more than 5 years ago, the White House is preparing to use threats to increase ObamaCare enrollment numbers next year. The threat, of course, is the ObamaCare tax.
Next year the annual fine for not buying President Obama’s overpriced health insurance will jump to $695 or 2.5% of your income, whichever is greater. The White House intends to use the hefty fines as leverage in the upcoming 2016 enrollment period, which starts in November:
Administration officials are looking for a balance.
“We need to be make sure that we are very clear and explicit about that $695 penalty so people understand the choice they are making,” said spokeswoman Lori Lodes. But she said the main emphasis will stay on the benefits of having health insurance and how the law’s subsidies can dramatically lower the cost of monthly premiums.
It is no secret as to why no one is buying ObamaCare — ObamaCare sucks.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
But according to CPA Practice Advisor, Americans who are expecting to pay a fine in 2015 have entirely too much faith in the IRS and its abilities. According to that site, “The IRS has absolutely no way of verifying whose insurance coverage did not qualify under the law and who pays the penalty.” Citing all the obstacles the IRS faces in enforcing the mandate, the site concludes that the IRS will be unable to effectively enforce the mandate:
With just under 25 million people enrolling in the federal and state health exchanges (including Medicare and Medicaid recipients), plus the estimated 150 million who have employer-paid health care plans, there are still some 62 million people who would have to pay a penalty but likely will not. For those who do the math the IRS apparently did not, that’s a potential loss of nearly $6 billion in revenue....[snip]
And worse yet. Those who do not meet the “essential minimum coverage” threshold for individuals can still avoid paying the penalty if they meet one of the dozen or so exemptions, which seem to be granted to any person who breathes air, or has a life crisis like missing a utility bill payment, or having a family member [who] becomes ill or even a family pet with a flea problem. It really doesn’t matter, because there is no place to report either the coverage status or the exemption if you are not already enrolled in a qualified program. Those are supposed to be covered under rules that the IRS has not yet drafted.
The site concludes that agency is clearly too riddled with financial problems and racked by scandal to have set up a “simple database matching program.” Furthermore, Congress’ spending bill has cut the IRS’s budget by $1.3 billion, making it even more difficult for the agency to enforce the mandate.
One of the strangest elements of the Affordable Care Act is that after going to all the trouble of creating penalties for not having adequate health care coverage, the law does almost nothing to give the IRS any power to enforce the penalty provisions. Specifically, the law forbids the IRS from using its typical collection actions, including filing a notice of a tax lien. Ordinarily, that would allow the IRS to attach a lien to items including bank accounts, personal assets, or even your wage income. Moreover, the IRS isn't allowed to impose any other penalties related to unpaid taxes or to begin criminal prosecution proceedings for failure to pay the penalty voluntarily. Obamacare - 2015 Total On Exchange Enrollment | HealthGroveIndeed, the only way the IRS can collect the Obamacare penalty is by deducting it from the refund you'd otherwise be due. If you don't have a refund coming to you, then the penalty amount simply carries forward to future years, presumably accumulating interest but otherwise being practically unenforceable.Still, the problem is that if you ever are in a position where you'd be owed a tax refund, the IRS will jump at the chance to collect back Obamacare penalties from your refund check. There's no guarantee that lawmakers won't change those provisions in the future and allow collection of back taxes owed, but for now, IRS power to enforce penalties is quite limited.
For those who categorically oppose Obamacare and its individual mandate provisions, the better course of action is to apply for an open-ended hardship exemption based on the "any other hardship" provisions of the statute. Even if none of the listed exemptions applies to your situation, the ability to make your case could get you out of penalties entirely -- and never have to worry about whether the IRS might be able to enforce a penalty later. Given how much Obamacare penalties have grown since last year and are projected to rise even further next year, taking steps to get an exemption is far safer than rolling the dice with the IRS and hoping that you'll never get a refund that the IRS would simply take away from you.
As an added precaution, note on any check you give to the IRS that the payment is for "Income Tax."
Geez - people who make threats better make sure they ain't got any unguarded high-dollar stuff laying around.
Be a shame if'n somethin happened to it...
Horse. Barn door. The Fed has been in the middle of contracts, illegally, for AGES:
Min. wages/Employer benefits
Healthcare/Insurance (plans must carry a MIN of drug help, birth control..)
Hell, you cable, phone and internet (ah, the joys of monopolies, created by GOVT)
SCOTUS won’t touch sh!t for the years of BAD precedent; 9 lawyers can’t figure out what ‘shall not be infringed means’...
Now that’s funny there: expecting D.C. to follow it’s own Laws, rules, regulations and the like.
Only We slaves live under those conditions, don’t you know.
“the main emphasis will stay on the benefits of having health insurance and how the law’s subsidies can dramatically lower the cost of monthly premiums.”
Really?
What color is the sky in her world?
I’m sure Donald Trump will reimburse Americans after his election.
True story. A boyhood buddy of mine got sick of the IRS, quit filing and got a job on a fishing boat based in Alaska. When they finally tracked him down, he gave them the boat’s current location and told them to come and get him.
Anybody that pays those fines is just Butt azz stupid. There is nothing the govt can do to you except withhold it from your refund. In a year or two the GOP is going to repeal it. Or it will just die on its own.
And, if you owe or do not loan the government money to get a “refund?” Kneecaps?
This is worse: You MUST contract with a company or else the government will attack you.
That’s new ground.
All people must resist this belligerence.
And, if you owe or do not loan the government money to get a “refund?” Kneecaps?
You get your stuff attached, taken and sold.
Resistance is justified. Defend yourself to the degree necessary. This is intolerable.
Resistance is justified. Defend yourself to the degree necessary. This is intolerable.
_________________
It is not intolerable enough, most people don’t care
True. There is still a huge “savings” when compared to monthly premiums & deductibles of “affordable” insurance.
Interesting thing is - people still get majorly po’d when they get the news at tax time.
...You get your stuff attached, taken and sold...
Nope. They would believe differently, but there are no collection, attachment, or sale powers they have in the Zer0care statute. Absolutely nothing other than grabbing refunds.
The only thing they can do is sit and spin till they can can get at a refund owed you, if you are foolish enough to ever put yourself into a position to ever over pay to be owed one.
Most are afraid
Most are afraid
____________
With good reason
No. Irs came out clearly and said from refunds was the only way they would enforce penalties.
No. Irs came out clearly and said from refunds was the only way they would enforce penalties.
Only the government could be so stupid as to disencentivise overpayment of taxes by threatening to confiscate part of the refund to pay for obamacare. The result will simply be that people will pay less to ensure there is no refundable amount at the end of the year. Result. The government collects and holds less money from taxpayers.
Pay or die. Pay and die. It’s all the same with them. They are the biggest bunch of bullies that create anti-bullying laws.
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