Long before B.O. finally tells the truth about it.


“For us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase,” the president said last September, in a spirited exchange with George Stephanopoulos on the ABC News program “This Week.”

When Mr. Stephanopoulos said the penalty appeared to fit the dictionary definition of a tax, Mr. Obama replied, “I absolutely reject that notion.”



Oops.

When is a tax a tax? Uh...when it only applies to rich people, and somehow making it go away actually magically makes revenues increase?

Yeah. Your electric bill is a tax. If we were to sell our public utility to a private utility and they were to double the rate, that would be a tax cut.

... but it would still suck ass.

Republicans only hate taxes for which you get something in return.

As a Republican I support the concept of every American paying for healthcare in an insurance style model. Yep! If you have a social security number and do not have private health insurance you should be paying dollars each month to the gov. to pre-pay for when

- you call 911 short of breath having a heart attack
- an ambulance shows up
- saves your butt
- drops you off at the local hospital
- stick a life saving device in you.

If you do not want to be saved do not call 911 but since you have the option you need to pre-pay. The way I see it, the paying people today are paying for the non-payers however I am a little confused as to why the Republicans are not seeing it this way as they do with say unemployment benefits or welfare.

I have pondered the above for many months and can argue either side. It is hard to think that having a social security number creates an expense for an American citizen who wants to wander the land but with healthcare it is just too important. It is a tuff conclusion but one I support.

Once we have chips in our wrists that keep track of our current health insurance coverage (or lack of) and our net worth (or lack of) my above thought process may be altered – then my traditional Republican views could come out in a logical manner.

This is not a tax. Come on, if people would not get pregnant “accidentally” we would not have any abortion discussions. Lets teach abstinence! – blah -- Sometimes reality and individual beliefs differ.


- Off to work to support those who are on welfare and to pay for my family’s healthcare and housing…

Welcome. I look forward to hearing more of what you have to say.

Of course, as an attorney, you recognize that now B.O. and his administration are indeed forced into arguing that it is, in fact, a tax.

I do know the new B&O tax in WA is a real tax.

Expand on the above?

The Commonwealth of Virginia is challenging in court the constitutionality of "Obamacare".

(Background: Virginia law says that no resident of the state can be compelled by the federal law to have health insurance, nor can any Virginian be forced to pay a fine or penalty for refusing health coverage.)


Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ian Gershengorn argued that The Commonwealth of Virginia does not have the right to ignore the federal law because of the minimum coverage standard provision (stating that if people do not purchase health insurance, they must pay a fine).

Gershengorn argued that penalty is a tax, which the federal government has Constitutional power to levy and therefore, it cannot be ignored by the states.


U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson: "Is this a tax enactment or a health care enactment?"

Gershengorn: "Well, your honor, it's both."

...?

Is there a point to this, or is this just more throwing buzzwords around to try and get some traction without resorting to those pesky "fact" things?

OK, rhetorical question.

Since you seem to continue to have a problem with reading, I'll give you the audio, and we'll see if you can put the puzzle together. Start at about 3:58.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL7ak__MGyw