Even the AP noticed
The AP, of all things, takes issue with the President’s strange assertion that a tax is not a tax:
It’s a tax. Obama insisted this weekend on national television that requiring people to carry health insurance — and fining them if they don’t — isn’t the same thing as a tax increase. But the language of Democratic bills to revamp the nation’s health care system doesn’t quibble. Both the House bill and the Senate Finance Committee proposal clearly state that the fines would be a tax. And the reason the fines are in the legislation is to enforce the coverage requirement.
“If you put something in the Internal Revenue Code, and you tell the IRS to collect it, I think that’s a tax,” said Clint Stretch, head of the tax policy group for Deloitte, a major accounting firm. “If you don’t pay, the person who’s going to come and get it is going to be from the IRS.”
This Obama is one strange bird. We recommend reading Professor Paul Rahe’s reflections on the man. It is worth pondering what relationship to the world a man possesses that he can that repeatedly declare the inverse of reality to be true. It is worth pondering what relationship to the United States a man possesses when he chooses the 70th anniversary of the USSR’s invasion of Poland to give to Russia the gift of abandoning missile defense for Poland.
(Special fun bonus: you can also go to jail as well as be taxed.)
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:07 am
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/041b5acaf5/protect-insurance-companies-psa
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:07 am
I would love to have Prof Paul Rahe’s take on the message to New York, America, and the world when he sent Air Force One to Buzz Manhattan. It’s more than just being a stupid jerk, although that was the mask he used. He was saying something mean, something menacing, making a show of how much his power can be abused at his whim. The bully lifted his fist and held New Yorkers by the collar for a moment. “I’m the new boss around here – don’t you forget it punk.”
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:43 am
Do you remember the 1990s Oldsmobile ads? It’s the death knell for any brand when they have to advertise what the brand is NOT.
“This is not your father’s Oldsmobile” == “The health care tax is not a tax”
September 24th, 2009 at 2:18 am
At some point, even people genuinely disposed to like you get tired of being lied to. I expect Obama to reach Nixonian levels of popularity and paranoia before his term is up.
September 24th, 2009 at 6:50 am
[...] Even the AP noticed [...]
September 24th, 2009 at 9:50 am
If even the AP is calling it a tax then I suspect the proposal is in trouble, though I do not expect Obama to back off.
September 25th, 2009 at 2:55 am
The bill states it is an excise tax. People who make assertions that are contradicted by fact lose credibility with me.
The president is either ignorant or a liar. This is part of a pattern. Trust him at your peril.