CATO Institute: 'A Taxing Distinction For ObamaCare'

Source:CATO Institute- fellow Roger Pilon.

"ObamaCare was a mistake from the start, a massive effort by the federal government to take over and control one‐​sixth of the economy — indeed, the part that concerns the most complex and intimate details of life, our health. It’s the most ambitious example to date of the political hubris progressives have displayed for over a century now, the belief that government can solve all of our problems.

Today, the Supreme Court had an opportunity to put a brake on that hubris. Four justices, led by Justice Kennedy, would have done so. But Chief Justice Roberts joined the four justices who are Exhibit A of the modern hubris, writing for the Court to uphold almost all of this monstrous intrusion on our liberty and on the very theory of the Constitution. And he did so on the flimsiest of rationales for deciding a constitutional question — precedent. If precedent carried the weight Roberts gave it today, we’d still be riding in segregated trains and sending our children to segregated schools." 

From the CATO Institute 

"In upholding Obamacare as a tax, the Supreme Court, led by the politically astute Chief Justice Roberts, took the safest route around a thorny issue. Both sides, arguably, got something they want. The chief justice strongly endorsed the argument that Congress is not allowed to compel people into commerce in order to regulate them under the Commerce Clause. President Obama and his supporters get to claim victory too. The end result, however, is the same. It makes no difference whether it is under the taxing power or the commerce power, Congress can now compel non‐​purchasers to become purchasers." 

From the CATO Institute 

"The Cato Institute's Roger Pilon, Ilya Shapiro, Michael F. Cannon, Michael D. Tanner and Trevor Burrus evaluate today's ruling on ObamaCare at the Supreme Court." 

From The CATO Institute 

If you want to argue that U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts bailed Congressional Democrats and President Barack Obama out over the Affordable Care Act and labeling the individual mandate a tax, I won't waste your time arguing with you on that. But only because you are right. 

Congress is not known for gifted writers and writing. We're not talking about the Hollywood writers guild, but instead a group 535, mostly career politicians in the House and Senate who are in the business to get and stay elected and not be forced to work in the private sector and actually be productive and have to make a living on their own. If they said the individual mandate was a tax back in 2010 when the law was finally passed, Congressional Republicans of course would've ran agains't Democrats as tax and spenders who simply want to take more money out of hard-working Americans and give it to government. 

So what Democrats did back in 2010 was to pass individual mandate, which was tax/penalty in order to keep the Affordable Care Act in place and to have as many Americans in the health insurance system as possible, but also to partially fund the Affordable Care Act. Which is what politicians (Democratic and Republican) do to avoid political controversy which is to call their tough politicians things that they're not to cover themselves.