No matter how many times you say a mandate is a tax, it still won’t be true.
If the government mandates that you wear your seat belt, is that a tax? If the government mandates that you stop at stop signs, is that a tax? If the government mandates that you send your child to public school, is that a tax? If the government mandates that you wear clothes in public, is that a tax?
If the government mandates that you take a free vaccine in order to be in the military, is that a tax?
How many examples do you need of mandates that are not taxes, before you stop running around saying “a mandate is a tax” simply so you don’t have to explain what your problem is with mandates?
There is a penalty, a tax, IF I am mandated to wear a seat belt and I do NOT and I get pulled over.
Are you trying to say there is NO cost to me to send my child to school?
I won't fight a government mandate to wear clothes in public, but I have yet to find free clothes. And who is going to fine me for going naked.
Anything the government requires US to do under a mandate is a tax. Because someone is required to enforce said mandate and that means people are hired to enforce a mandate.
I think you need to re-figure what a mandate is and does.