Common Sense

Today the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamcare) “individual mandate” is constitutional under the federal government’s power to lay and collect taxes. 

Here are seven eight related quotes that may help explain the general disgust with government that pervades the American populace:

The mandate is "absolutely not a tax increase...Nobody considers that a tax increase."

-President Obama, September 20, 2009

 Interview with George Stephanopoulos

"not only is it fair to read this as an exercise of the tax power, but this Court has got an obligation to construe it as an exercise of the tax power"

-United States Solicitor General Virrelli, March 27, 2012

 Arguing before the Supreme Court on behalf of the Government (defending Obamacare) 

 Day 2 of oral arguments

"Congress did not intend the payment to be treated as a 'tax'"

-U.S. Supreme Court, June 28, 2012

 Syllabus, page 2

"the shared responsibility payment may for constitutional purposes be considered a tax."

-U.S. Supreme Court, June 28, 2012

 Syllabus, page 4

"Congress’s decision to label this exaction a “penalty”rather than a “tax” is significant because the Affordable Care Act describes many other exactions it creates as 'taxes.'...Where Congress uses certain language in one part of a statute and different language in another, it is generally presumed that Congress acts intentionally."

-Chief Justice Roberts, June 28, 2012

Opinion of Roberts, C.J., 567 U. S. ____ (2012) (page 12)

"The Government asks us to interpret the mandate as imposing a tax...it can be so read"

-Chief Justice Roberts, June 28, 2012

Opinion of Roberts, C.J., 567 U. S. ____ (2012) (page 32)

"It is of course true that the Act describes the payment as a 'penalty,' not a 'tax.'"

-Chief Justice Roberts, June 28, 2012

Opinion of Roberts, C.J., 567 U. S. ____ (2012) (page 33)

Update June 29:“It’s a penalty because you have a choice. You don’t have a choice to pay your taxes, right?”
 -White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, June 29, 2012
 Press briefing aboard Air Force One

I’m no constitutional scholar but I’ve got a crazy idea for the Court, the Congress and the country: it either IS a tax, or it ISN’T a tax. 

P.S. I’ve read Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion.  I comprehend his distinction between the Constitution and laws (specifically the Anti-Injunction Act) passed by Congress.  But unlike the vast majority of my elected and appointed leaders, it appears, I still possess some common sense.