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tazzygirl -> RE: Constitutionality of ACA (4/5/2012 11:47:54 AM)
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ORIGINAL: SoftBonds
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ORIGINAL: Arturas
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Um, Obamacare is supported by income taxes on people who don't pay (directly or indirectly) for health insurance.
No. Pelosi specifcally put in the Obamacare law that this mandate is not to be known or described as a TAX. Instead, it is something you are required to buy from a private insurance company or pay the Goverment, as an insurance premium, to the Government run insurance entity. Everyone. Working or not. Must buy insurance. Not a tax. The Obamacare mandate is labeled in the law as something other than tax. The Supreme Court ruled Monday a week ago that it was indeed NOT A TAX.
Are you listening? Reality knocks.
Oh, so it is like the republican proposal in the Ryan budget to change Medicare, sorry for my confusion...
As the argument circled around whether the individual mandate is a tax or some kind of penalty, the Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. appeared at one point to become tripped up in his words, saying tax when he meant penalty and, elsewhere, calling it a “tax penalty.”
Justice Kagan asked Mr. Verrilli whether a person who violated the individual mandate — and paid the penalty under the health care law — would be considered to have violated a federal law. He said no, explaining that paying the penalty would not be the same as failing to pay a tax.
That answer brought a fast back-and-forth between Mr. Verrilli and Justices Kagan and Breyer:
JUSTICE KAGAN: The nature of the representation you made, that the only consequence is the penalty, suppose a person does not purchase insurance, a person who is obligated to do so under the statute doesn’t do it, pays the penalty instead, and that person finds herself in a position where she is asked the question, have you ever violated any federal law, would that person have violated a federal law?
GENERAL VERRILLI: No. Our position is that person should give the answer “no.”
JUSTICE KAGAN: And that’s because -
GENERAL VERRILLI: That if they don’t pay the tax, they violated a federal law.
JUSTICE KAGAN: But as long as they pay the penalty --
GENERAL VERRILLI: If they pay the tax, then they are in compliance with the law.
JUSTICE BREYER: Why do you keep saying tax?
GENERAL VERRILLI: If they pay the tax penalty, they’re in compliance with the law.
JUSTICE BREYER: Thank you.
GENERAL VERRILLI: Thank you, Justice Breyer.
JUSTICE BREYER: The penalty.
GENERAL VERRILLI: Right. That’s right.
The Lede is signing off for the day, but we will return on Tuesday to continue following the hearings. Thanks for your comments.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/updates-on-the-supreme-court-challenge-to-the-health-care-law/
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