Did Massachusetts health care reform go

[Raven]

to the SCOTUS? I don't think so. So what the hell is Mitt Romney talking about? Again, does he think we are all stupid? This crap that "my mandate isn't a tax because SCOTUS didn't say it was" really insults our intelligence.

[Honeycombe8]

1. I actually understand what he means. But most people won't get it.

Maybe because I work in the legal field, or just maybe because the whole clip of what he said.

He was saying...it doesn't matter what he or anyone thinks about whether mandate causes a penalty vs. tax, because the highest court in the land has ruled that it is a tax, and therefore, that is what it is, legally.

[dkf]

2. Yes I get it too.

People who don't understand the supposed limits on Federal power won't get it though.

[Honeycombe8]

3. The S.Ct is the highest judicial authority in the country. It has the final say

on interpretation of laws passed by the legislative branch. It says the penalty is a tax, legally, and so it is, legally.

Or you can be like Rand Paul and think that the ACA is unconstitutional, despite what the S.Ct. ruled.

[dkf]

4. Which makes one wonder if taxes in general are penalties.

I would say that fits in well with how Americans think anyway.

[Wounded Bear]

5. RWers already think this way...

As I said here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002908745

Teababbers have been conditioned to view any tax as a penalty anyway. Arguing about the semantics of it just wastes time.

Something that we can't afford to do, and that helps their cause of delaying tactics.

[Honeycombe8]

6. Yeah, it's all semantics, anyway. Except you get in a LOT more trouble if you don't pay taxes.

The penalty is really treated differently from a tax, seems to me. The IRS can't seize your house, like it can do if you don't pay your income taxes.

But the S.Ct. has decreed it's a tax, and that makes it a tax....legally.