Despite assurances by proponents that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was not a tax - including statements from President Barack Obama himself -it really is a tax after all.
A split Supreme Court ruled 5-4 June 28 that the penalty portion of the mandate is a tax, which renders it constitutional.
Those who opt out of the plan or can't afford it - even with government subsidies plucked from the pockets of other taxpayers - are now looking at a tax the Congressional Budget Office has estimated will be $695 per uninsured adult, or 2.5 percent of family income up to $12,500 per year. At present, the tax/nee fine will come from federal tax refunds, assuming one has a refund due.
Businesses that don't provide insurance to employees are looking at a new tax penalty of $2,000 per.
Whether you think Obamacare is long overdue or a costly debacle that needs to be repealed, let's be honest with those required to pay the freight.
When the government imposes payment, be it a fee, contribution or a penalty, it's a tax.
Fact Box
- Gasparilla Gazette editorial
That was the linchpin of the administration's argument as to the health care plan's constitutionality, and it is the bedrock of the Supreme Court finding.
In demanding honesty, let's go nearly 77 years back. "Social insurance," aka the Social Security Act, passed in August 1935, went through a similar challenge and prevailed for much the same reason.
Proponents of Roosevelt's reform argued for the social benefit of a tax on the work force so basic needs might be provided for when needed without burdening the taxpaying public as a whole.
Passage of the Social Security Act "marked a great advance in affording more equitable and effective protection to the people of this country against widespread and growing economic hazards," Roosevelt told Congress and his fellow Americans.
Today, Washington politicians call the fruits of that tax workers and employers are required to pay, at amounts mandated by the government under the full penalty of the law, an "entitlement."
As if the expectation that government programs will work as promised, at the price that was promised, is somehow unreasonable.
Or unrealistic.
As, we have seen, it all too often is.
- Gasparilla Gazette editorial
