[Lorianne]

I think how they slipped around that is ... the mandate is not a tax, but the PENALTY if you don’t follow the mandate is a tax.

Extremely shaky reasoning IMO. If you follow this logic, then legal penalties of any sort are a ‘tax’. So taxes are penalties ... penalties for making a certain amount of money.

[dfwgator]

I think how they slipped around that is ... the mandate is not a tax, but the PENALTY if you don’t follow the mandate is a tax.

If it walks and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.