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The Spectacle Blog
Dave Weigel identifies what he considers “laughable Obamacare decision spin” from Republicans. He includes the argument that it makes Barack Obama more vulnerable to the charge of raising taxes: “Hi, have you met Republicans? They were going to do that anyway.”
Let’s stipulate that Obamacare’s reversal was the preferred outcome. It would have stricken the monstrosity from the books. Even politically, it would have contributed to Obama’s image as a failed president. Domestically, the main things he would have to show for his first term was a stimulus that failed to bring unemployment below 8 percent and a health care bill that was struck down by the Supreme Court. His campaign would have focused more on running against George W. Bush, House Republicans, and John Roberts than his own record. Mitt Romney could have moved beyond his own past support for the individual mandate in Massachusetts.
But this does meaningfully settle the argument over whether the individual mandate is a tax. You won’t just have Republicans calling it a tax. The Supreme Court has called it a tax and the mainstream media has reported this news. And unlike taxes on tanning beds or even the top marginal income tax rate, this is a broad-based tax that ensnares many recognizably middle-class people. That’s not spin, that’s just a fact.
Democrats are forced to either admit that the mandate is a tax or disavow its entire legal basis. If the mandate isn’t a tax, it has no constitutional justification that commands majority support on the Supreme Court. Remember, if this was decided solely on commerce clause grounds, yesterday’s decision ends up 5-4 the other way. This last bit may only be of interest to high-information voters. But you can now read about the mandate being a tax in your hometown paper rather than in a Republican National Committee press release. It matters that this debate has been taken out of the realm of partisan “He said/she said.”
View all comments (10) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/06/29/its-not-spin-its-a-tax
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JD| 6.29.12 @ 12:46PM
None of this matters. The media won't play up the "tax" angle, and it doesn't take effect until after Obama's been reelected anyway.
Once it DOES start to hurt people, the tax will be repealed or subsidized, but the rest of ObamaCare will remain. Sure, it will drive up deficits, but like all of the liberal agenda, they can get that rammed through provided they do it in small enough chunks (apparently a trillion dollars at a time is small). We who oppose it will just be "greedy".
The slippery slope is the only vehicle the left has ever used to advance its agenda. How can people not know that by now?
thirteen28| 6.29.12 @ 12:53PM
It's a tax and now the feds have unlimited power to tax you for anything. The only way around this is a constitutional amendment to prohibit taxes compelling a behavior, requiring a third party purchase, or otherwise taxing inactivity.
Obviously we have to win in November, but this should be a long term goal.
JD| 6.29.12 @ 6:13PM
There's no point in making new rules when the old rules aren't enforced.
Oldefarte| 6.29.12 @ 1:32PM
Again, it ain't no 'tax', but instead is GOVERNMENTAL HEALTH CARE WELFARE. It's intent was to destroy Medicare and to transfer governmental dollars to healthwelfare for snotnosers who won't have to PAY FOR it. Tax maybe the legalese defination, but drapola is the commonsensical one. Run, don't walk, to your voting polling station on 11/6/08 and mark the box for the entire Republican ticket as the only solution. Even if the SCOTUS would have annulled it instead, what difference would that make? It would have only resulted in the domestic terrorists aka Democrats reconvening in DC to re-establish/legislate same all over again [since they still are in control of the government via the residency and senate]. A SCOTUS wouldn't mean squat, and the problem would still exist awaiting a final solution on 11/6/12. Due your duty and get rid of it and its enablers as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oldefarte| 6.29.12 @ 1:33PM
Correction: on 11/6/12 above!!!!
PCPSmokerII| 6.29.12 @ 9:53PM
Run, don't walk, to your voting polling station on 11/6/08 and mark the box for the entire Republican ticket as the only solution.
We already did, you fucking moron. Go kill yourself.
PCPSmokerII| 6.29.12 @ 9:51PM
The GOP doesn't have the guts to do anything but babble a few incoherent sentences about tax, penalty, or some other nonsense. If we win in 012, we'll win because the usual morons are sick of Obama.
Steve851| 6.30.12 @ 3:30PM
So what if it's a tax? The past 11 plus years have guaranteed that we will have some significant tax increases. That wasn't necessary, but when you have big government guys like W and BO running things it can't be avoided. The voters chose these jerks and deserve the taxes they are going to get. The longer they put it off, the higher the taxes will be and they will be significant middle class tax increases because that's where W cut 80 percent of the taxes and that's where all the revenue to be taxed is. The sooner voters wake up, the less worse it will be, but with both parties pushing fairy tales, it's unlikely to be soon