Washington, D.C.
We will finally hear from SCOTUS tomorrow on ObamaCare. They have to decide tomorrow, for it’s the last day of the term.
If the individual mandate is declared unconstitutional and it being so intertwined with the rest of the bill takes down most or all of ObamaCare, then the Democrats won’t have anyone to blame but themselves. They tried to argue in court that the individual mandate wasn’t a mandate, but was nothing more than a per capita tax on people who had at least a certain income level and didn’t have a qualifying health insurance plan. The problem with that argument is that the White House wanted to keep the fact that they argued that as far under the vest as possible, because that would have broken his “no new taxes for people who make under x a year” promise. And, as a matter of fact, the tax isn’t a tax, it is clearly stated as a fine as a punishment for a “criminal offense” of not directly or indirectly purchasing or earning something.
I don’t even know if per capita fixed dollar amount taxes are even constitutional, even under Art 1 Sec 9 Clause 4 and the 16th Amendment combined. What might make it constitutional is that, pretending the fine for violating the individual mandate is a tax, those liable for the tax must have a certain income, so the Federal judiciary might be convinced that this is nothing more than an unusual income tax.
