Landmark – Supreme Court Goes Into A Parallel Universe To Allow Obamacare.
The Supreme Court determined that Obamacare is not constitutional under the Commerce Clause. Four justices said the law should be thrown out altogether. Obvious solution: Re-cast Obamacare as tax law and approve it that way.
Court watchers suggest that, at the heart of it, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts just couldn’t take the heat.
The Supremes did say that the individual mandate is unconstitutional – Congress cannot require citizens to buy things.
But what to do if Congress really, really, REALLY wants people to buy things? It seems the Chief Justice didn’t want to get in the middle of that one.
So, instead, the Court divined that Congressional taxing power is now different.
Taxing Nothing
Until Thursday, June 28, 2012, taxes almost exclusively occurred when money changed hands. (Sales Tax, Income Tax, Inheritance Tax, and all that.) Government used to take something off the top on the way through, and that was called taxation. Real estate taxes were a bit different; but, still, they involved the value of a real asset.
On Thursday, the Supremes said Congress can now tax anybody for anything. They have opened the door for the “You’re Too Fat Tax,” the “You’re Too Ugly Tax,” and the “We Don’t Like Your Source of Energy Tax.”
Specifically, the Affordable Care Act includes a “You Have No Insurance Tax.”
Congress can coerce citizens into any action or inaction by force of taxation.
And there you go.
The law that was absolutely not a tax, retroactively became tax law. And Obamacare is legal.
President Obama effectively replaced those nasty insurance companies with the warm, cuddly Internal Revenue Service – and, what was it? 16,000 new IRS agents added, in case you need help getting the message.
Justice Roberts pointedly said, if you don’t like this law, elect new leaders. The Supreme Court isn’t going to fix this one for you.