Did you know that if I don't pay my taxes today, the government can put me in jail?

[still_one]

Wow, that is outrageous. How dare they force me to pay taxes. How dare that I am paying taxes income tax or social security tax

WHERE DO YOU THINK THE MONEY IS GOING TO COME FROM?

and how much do you think you pay for an uninsured person going to the emergency room?

[brentspeak]

1. Why are you using the word "tax"?

Obama clearly stated that http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/20/politics/main5324703.shtml">it wasn't a tax.

[Coyote_Bandit]

3. Ummmm......

A distinction without a difference.

[still_one]

4. because that is what it is, and tax isn't a dirty word. /nt

[Go2Peace]

16. It's a dirty word when it is being used as a way to Fine people

I am all for a payroll tax that is progressively based to create a universal care program.

I would even support a "fine" which could be legally garnished against income. But jail for this is just innnapropriate given that some of the people who will be affected will be under fiancial stress.

[Cirque du So-What]

7. Call it what you like

but healthcare costs money, and it needs to be paid for one way or another. That's true here and in any other industrialized nation (all of which - with the exception of the USA - already have universal health care). Don't want to participate in an inclusive societal institution because it requires some monetary input from all its citizens? Taxes are the price we pay for civilization. Don't like it? There's always Somalia.

[brentspeak]

8. What is the point of your post?

Somehow, you've confused private health insurance with "healthcare". This bill doesn't provide any real healthcare; it merely keeps the current system of private health insurance in place -- with our tax dollars paying for insurance co CEO's 3rd yacht.

[Cirque du So-What]

10. Strawman

Even if this strawman assertion about the CEO's 3rd yacht were true (it's not), it's a trade I'm willing to make if it guarantees comprehensive, affordable coverage to practically every American. Back to the Build-a-Strawman Workshop.

[Chan790]

18. the word affordable is not part of the current bill...

all promises of price-control went down the river to appease the corporatist fuckwits in our own party...it says that they can't drop you, but it also says that Uncle Sam can't rein in or restrict what they charge you. (It's amazing what one can learn when one reads instead of accepting the pablum being spoon-fed to you.)

"Oh, you have cancer. Your premium is now $1,000,000/month...if your payment is more than 2 days later we will terminate your coverage. Thank You for choosing MedNet ObamaCare." (Because if I owned an insurance company, I'd be renaming it after the guy who could have fucked me and instead handed me America's wallet.)

You can't count on those savages to undercut each other in price competition for the already sick. Once you get sick, they'll jack you because they can't drop you...they've got you by the short-and-curlies. If you drop your coverage or couldn't afford it, nobody else is going to offer coverage at any lower cost to the ill. This bill sets up a race to the top-most price point where the number of uninsured Americans will blossom and the morons just agreed to fine the hell out of you for being sick and hand the money over to the same assholes.

The system is on-fire and we just poured gasoline on our heads and jumped on top.

His mother should be ashamed of him if he doesn't veto this POS.

[brentspeak]

32. We're now in the ridiculous but necessary position of hoping SCOTUS rules the bill unconstitutional

The Senate version will be even worse than this current steaming pile of insurance cartel dung.

[Chan790]

15. It should be paid 100% on the backs of the wealthiest Americans.

Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Steve Jobs can all afford to pay for my MRI in cash, then provide pre-natal vitamins to 100 pregnant women, fund pregnancy termination for 1000 teenagers caught in hard choices, 10 rounds of chemotherapy for cancer patients...and not spend what they make in 10 minutes in interest off their investments.

Why shouldn't we make these demands of the wealthiest Americans?

[notesdev]

11. Clearly that was a lie

so what else is new?

Guess what - if the IRS is enforcing it, it's a tax.

[Coyote_Bandit]

2. And they can take your property

through eminent domain to generate more tax revenues.

And good luck finding a job.

Small wonder we have one of the highest rates of incarceration in the world. A stint in jail will get you a roof, a bed, three squares a day, access to education and job training, to healthcare and to television. There are a lot of free law abiding folks in this nation who would be delighted to have all that - even if some consider the quality substandard.

[Cirque du So-What]

5. Please, don't confuse us with facts

Besides, logic makes my head hurt!

It's so much simpler to latch onto lies concocted by conservative liars - especially when they've been pre-digested for me by all the concern trolls who have crawled out of the woodwork this bright & sunny Sunday morning.

I don't want to bother my beautiful mind with all your fancy 'thinking.' Now leave me alone while I concoct the latest in a string of posts that begin, 'OMG OMG OMG IS THIS TRUE ARE WE GOING TO JAIL?!!?11lll??elevens!!'

[still_one]

6. I have to believe this was the same arguments used against social security and medicare

and how many who use those programs, aren't glad they are there?

I am sure the baby boomers coming up if not now, will be grateful

[Go2Peace]

13. I believe not, SS and Medicare taxes are income TAXES. This is a FINE.

Let's be more honest in the discussion. So you don't think these fines are a problem, or they are necessary. But they are not TAXES.

[tomm2thumbs]

9. MSNBC was playing 'Lockup' to get us ready for all our prison sentences

cuz weez all goin to jaylz!

[Dreamer Tatum]

21. MSNBC plays 'Lockup' 18 hours a day nt

[tomm2thumbs]

31. I had no idea - but I guess there are endless prisons out there

and every one has a captive cast of characters they can easily get permission from to videotape

[Go2Peace]

12. red herring. Most taxes are against INCOME. This "tax" will be a fine on the poor

[optimator]

14. the IRS is now a branch of corporations

authoritarian capitalism sure is great !

[Greyhound]

17. Another criminalize poverty measure. What a wonderful nation we've built here. n/t

[leftstreet]

19. Congress should just mandate that we all become wealthy

that's the ticket

[Chan790]

20. Agreed.

I'm feeling compelled to raise the Starry Plough on high and march through the streets in my finest red t-shirt with my fist raised in the sky.

[Barack_America]

23. No, that would be the "flat tax". nt

[Chan790]

28. That's another one.

There is, as the strange lady who lived in our refurbed chicken coop said, "more than one way to skin a cat." I'm not sure why one skins a cat but I can attest by her decor that there are at least 6 ways to skin a cat. Likewise, there is more than one way to overwhelmingly direct the weight of a tax onto the poorest Americans.

[rucky]

22. Who are we making this check out to, again?

the IRS, or Anthem/Humana/Blue Cross, etc?

[Barack_America]

25. Write your current check to the Pentagon, as usual.

And the new check will go towards your health insurance.

[Sebastian Doyle]

24. You can indeed go to jail for not paying your taxes

But until now, you couldn't go to jail for not paying a private, for profit corporation. If you don't see the difference there, then you should look up the definition of "fascism". Because that is EXACTLY what that is. :scared:

[leftstreet]

27. If they throw us in jail won't our healthcare be covered?

:think: :think: :think:

[Chan790]

30. and meaningful work and 3 meals a day and laundry service and shelter.

Jail: It's the new American Dream*(c).

*-American Dream is a registered trademark of the FilthyCorporatistScumfuckery Co. (incorporated in the state of DE, 1980) and is used here-within under the terms of fair use.

[Life Long Dem]

26. Go get Pepsi to help you.

[Odin2005]

29. Oh SNAP!

I think certain DUers need to lay off the crack pipe of Libertarian anti-tax rhetoric.