The Supreme Court narrowly upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate. John H. Cushman Jr., reporting for the New York Times, writes:
Many conservatives considered the mandate unconstitutional under the commerce clause, arguing that if the federal government could compel people to buy health insurance, it could compel them to buy almost anything — even broccoli, the archetypal example debated during the oral arguments three months ago.
In a complex decision, the court found that Congress’ powers to regulate commerce did not justify the mandate. But it reasoned that the penalty, to be collected by the Internal Revenue Service starting in 2015, is a tax and is not unconstitutional.
Back in 2009, President Obama, when asked directly if the individual mandate was a tax, said: “For us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase.”
While sincere Christians may disagree on the role of government with respect to health care, I think we should all prefer clarity and straightforwardness in public discourse.
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It’s funny that he and others trying to sell it back then insisted it wasn’t a new tax and then now some are arguing it is a tax in order to defend it infront of the SC—there was also an argument put forward by Obamacare’s defenders that the case against Obamacare was premature since the Tax Anti-Injunction Act prohibits cases complaining about taxes before the taxes have been paid!
But I don’t think Obama is being unclear or less than straightforward. He makes it really clear in the video what the point of the penalty/tax is, he just doesn’t want to call it a tax. To him, it’s a penalty. To Roberts, it’s a tax. I don’t think Roberts speaks for Obama by a long shot or is trying to defend Obama or Obamacare. Is Obama now calling it a tax?
House Minority Leader Pelosi is saying it is a tax, but the White House is saying it isn’t. GOP Congressman Paul Ryan is saying there are a bunch of taxes in the law.