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Romney should expose IRS as enforcer for Obamacare
Washington Examiner ^ | 10/02/2012 | Byron York

Posted on 10/02/2012 1:41:13 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

As Mitt Romney campaigns on the promise to repeal Obamacare, some Republicans on Capitol Hill are trying to learn more about what the national health care law will actually do when it is fully implemented in 2014. Romney would do well to take a look at what they've discovered.

Specifically, Romney might want to focus on the new and expanded role that the Internal Revenue Service will play in Americans' lives as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

The nation's widely reviled tax collector will also become its health care enforcer. Once the law goes fully into effect, all Americans will have to prove that they have "qualified" health coverage -- and, of course, the government will decide what "qualified" health coverage is. If people don't have coverage, and the IRS determines they have the ability to pay for it, the IRS will go after them.

The Obama administration has tried to downplay what the feds will do to collect the penalty for not buying coverage -- a penalty that will range from $695 a year for lower-income people to $12,500 for a higher-income family. Administration officials and Democrats in Congress have stressed that Obamacare does not permit the IRS to garnish wages or seize cash and assets from taxpayers.

What they mention less frequently is that the IRS has another way to get the money. About three-quarters of U.S. taxpayers receive refunds after filing their returns each year, with the average refund nearly $3,000. After 2014, those people will discover the IRS can take the penalty out of their refunds.

"The IRS is prevented from issuing liens or levies or other enforcement action," Nina Olson, who holds a job called the National Taxpayer Advocate at the IRS, told a House hearing in August.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: irs; obamacare; romney

1 posted on 10/02/2012 1:41:17 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

I don’t know, but I have the impression that Romney is not the type to take the gloves off in the debates but wants to present himself as a political gentleman.


2 posted on 10/02/2012 1:46:03 PM PDT by 353FMG (The US Constitution is only as effective as those who enforce it.)
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To: SeekAndFind

How does Romney argue anything about obamacare, when romneycare was the frame work.


3 posted on 10/02/2012 1:58:41 PM PDT by svcw (Why is one cell on another planet considered life, and in the womb it is not.)
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To: SeekAndFind

4 posted on 10/02/2012 2:00:24 PM PDT by Bon mots (Abu Ghraib: 47 Times on the front page of the NY Times | Benghazi: 2 Times)
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To: 353FMG
He could at least point out that the health care initiative doesn't provide for more doctors of medicine rather it gives us a small army of IRS agents. I for one think that MDs are better trained to help the sick and injured than the taxman.
5 posted on 10/02/2012 2:00:52 PM PDT by carumba (The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made. Groucho)
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To: SeekAndFind
The IRS will also determine who is eligible for taxpayer-financed subsidies to purchase health care on the exchanges that will be set up in every state. Anytime anyone's situation changes -- a raise, a new job, a move to another state -- that person will be required to report it to the IRS for the purpose of recalculating their eligibility.

Team Romney should be shouting this from the rooftops. Lots and lots of independents and demonrats will not like this requirement at all.

6 posted on 10/02/2012 2:03:35 PM PDT by MrDem (Founder: Democrats for Cheney/Palin 2012)
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To: Bon mots

7 posted on 10/02/2012 2:04:41 PM PDT by timestax (Why not drug tests for the President AND all White Hut staff ? ? ?)
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To: SeekAndFind

“Nina Olson, who holds a job called the National Taxpayer Advocate at the IRS”

Yeah, sure—she’s on our side.


8 posted on 10/02/2012 2:08:41 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: All armed conservatives)
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To: SeekAndFind

Let’s hope he’ll ask how a revenue bill became law without originating in the House of Representatives which is a plain Constitutional requirement of tax bills.


9 posted on 10/02/2012 2:13:14 PM PDT by wesagain (The God (Elohim) of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the One True GOD.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I do think that Romney should try to do an end run around the MSM, especially in the first debate before all the early voting gets going in earnest.

A lot of people are going to vote for Obama having never heard the real facts about Libya, Solyndra, Fast and Furious, etc., simply because they get their news from NBC, ABC, CNN, or even Jon Stewart.

If Romney could make factual points, i.e., points that even biased fact checkers would have to agree are accurate, about, say, the percentage of stimulus dollars that went to Obama campaign bundlers, or about Univision being the only network to seriously cover Fast & Furious, or about the ambassador to Libya requesting more security, he would either force Obama to lie about them in defense, or admit them. Plus, a lot of the audience would finally get exposed to those facts for the first time.

Having said that, I doubt if 95% of Obama’s voters will even be watching the debates, but maybe Romney could at least shame the news media a little by asking potential Obama voters in the audience to think about why they’ve never heard any of this in their own news outlets. He could sum up with “Don’t you think you should become better informed about your President before you decide to support him again? There’s a lot that he’s done that hasn’t been reported by reporters you’ve been led to trust over the years, as you’ve learned here tonight.”

Not quite Reagan’s “going over their heads to the people.” More like cutting them off at the knees so he can reach the people they’ve been shielding from the facts of this miserable administration.


10 posted on 10/02/2012 2:22:30 PM PDT by Norseman (Defund the Left-Completely!)
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To: carumba

“....doesn’t provide for more doctors of medicine rather it gives us a small army of IRS agents.”

.
When almost half of the people in America do not pay taxes, you can’t expect them to know what an IRS agent is.


11 posted on 10/02/2012 2:26:03 PM PDT by 353FMG (The US Constitution is only as effective as those who enforce it.)
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