Obama And The HUGE Health Care Tax That He Simply Refuses To Call A Tax

Start Thinking Right ^ | September 21, 2009 | Michael Eden

[Michael Eden]

At the Oct. 7 presidential debate, Barack Obama said, "If you make less than a quarter of a million dollars a year, you will not see a single dime of your taxes go up. If you make $200,000 a year or less, your taxes will go down."

I point this out so that you realize that Obama supports your (note: use any word but "taxes" here) going up by 85800 dimes if your family makes $66,000 a year. More on that later.

And as part of my "I told you so" moment, allow me to cite my October 2008 article entitled "Obama-Biden Will Come After Middle Class With Taxes."

Our Narcissist-in-Chief appeared on five Sunday morning political talk show programs to sell the current iteration of ObamaCare. During his time with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week," there was this exchange:

STEPHANOPOULOS: You were against the individual mandate...

OBAMA: Yes.

STEPHANOPOULOS: ...during the campaign. Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you don't

How is that not a tax?

OBAMA: Well, hold on a second, George. Here -- here's what's happening. You and I are both paying $900, on average -- our families -- in higher premiums because of uncompensated care. Now what I've said is that if you can't afford health insurance, you certainly shouldn't be punished for that. That's just piling on.

If, on the other hand, we're giving tax credits, we've set up an exchange, you are now part of a big pool, we've driven down the costs, we've done everything we can and you actually can afford health insurance, but you've just decided, you know what, I want to take my chances. And then you get hit by a bus and you and I have to pay for the emergency room care, that's...

STEPHANOPOULOS: That may be, but it's still a tax increase.

OBAMA: No. That's not true, George. The -- for us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. What it's saying is, is that we're not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore than the fact that right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance. Nobody considers that a tax increase.

People say to themselves, that is a fair way to make sure that if you hit my car, that I'm not covering all the costs.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But it may be fair, it may be good public policy...

OBAMA: No, but -- but, George, you -- you can't just make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase. Any...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Here's the...

OBAMA: What -- what -- if I -- if I say that right now your premiums are going to be going up by 5 or 8 or 10 percent next year and you say well, that's not a tax increase; but, on the other hand, if I say that I don't want to have to pay for you not carrying coverage even after I give you tax credits that make it affordable, then...

STEPHANOPOULOS: I -- I don't think I'm making it up. Merriam Webster's Dictionary: Tax -- "a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes." OBAMA: George, the fact that you looked up Merriam's Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you're stretching a little bit right now. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gone to the dictionary to check on the definition. I mean what...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, no, but...

OBAMA: ...what you're saying is...

STEPHANOPOULOS: I wanted to check for myself. But your critics say it is a tax increase.

OBAMA: My critics say everything is a tax increase. My critics say that I'm taking over every sector of the economy. You know that.

Look, we can have a legitimate debate about whether or not we're going to have an individual mandate or not, but...

STEPHANOPOULOS: But you reject that it's a tax increase?

OBAMA: I absolutely reject that notion.

This little chunk of dialogue should show anyone what a truly disingenuous little weasel Barack Obama truly is.

Let's start with the "critics say it is a tax increase" part that Obama deceitfully jumped all over. Obama's answer makes it seem that all the people characterizing the "individual mandate" as a "tax increase" are rightwing Republican loons. But - to allude to Joe Wilson's famous outburst - Obama lies.

It's not just conservatives who are calling it a tax increase. Senator Max Baucus, the author of the Senate bill - HIMSELF calls it a tax increase, as the Politico article entitled, "Baucus bill calls individual mandate a tax, Obama says it isn't" kind of proves.

And it isn't just Max Baucus who calls it a tax. The bill itself calls it a tax:

Page 29, sentence one of the bill introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont) says: “The consequence for not maintaining insurance would be an excise tax.”

So the "notion" that Obama "absolutely rejects" is absolutely true. It's Obama who is lying.

Let's look at just how disingenuous and deceitful Obama is as he tries to sell his lie. He says to Stephanopoulos:

"No, but -- but, George, you -- you can't just make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase."

And so Stephanopoulos - quite reasonably - referred to the dictionary to demonstrate that he was hardly "making up language" as Obama falsely claimed:

I -- I don't think I'm making it up. Merriam Webster's Dictionary: Tax -- "a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes."

And you can just wrap up every lie, every fallacy, every disinformation tactic, every pile of crap, ever uttered by this Weasel-in-Chief in this one amazing rhetoric:

"George, the fact that you looked up Merriam's Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you're stretching a little bit right now. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gone to the dictionary to check on the definition."

So Obama begins by saying that the "tax increase" is made-up language, and then tries to say that referring to a dictionary to prove that it is NOT made up language somehow proves Obama's point.

This is a president who truly believes that you are stupid.

Now that we've pointed out that 1) Obama is a liar who 2) thinks you're stupid and that 3) it clearly IS a tax increase, let us see just how huge of a tax increase that Obama wants to foist on the sea of drooling idiots he calls America.

Under the section entitled, "Would there be an individual mandate?" Time Magazine answers:

Yes. Beginning in 2013, individuals would be required to have health insurance. Individuals and families who do not have insurance for more than three months in a given year would be subject to an annual excise tax of $750 and $1,500, respectively, if their income is below 300% of the federal poverty line (or $66,150 for a family of four). Tax penalties for individuals and families with incomes above that would be $950 and $3,800. The excise tax would be waived for Native Americans and individuals and families whose health-insurance costs would be more than 10% of their annual income.

George Will brings that paragraph into sharp focus in the discussion that followed Obama's appearance, saying:

"And this week, George, something immense happened, and that is we got a big number. Actually, we got a little number. We deal with hundreds of billions and trillions of dollars in talking about this. The number that came out this week is 13 percent.

They said 13 percent of a family's income, a family making $66,000 a year, about $15,000 over the median income, about 13 percent of their income under this plan would go for health care, not counting co-payments and not counting deductibles."

That's right. The tax increase that Obama deceitfully refuses to call a tax increase (because that would expose his even more fundamental lie that he would LOWER TAXES for people making less than $200,000 a year) would cost a family making $66,000 a year a whopping $8,500 bucks - not counting co-op payments or deductibles.

That's 85,850 dimes for those of you who bought Obama's campaign promise.

Barack Obama is a man who literally began his presidential run with a lie:

MR. RUSSERT: But, but—so you will not run for president or vice president in 2008?

SEN. OBAMA: I will not.

As another gigantic lie, Obama promised that he would accept federal matching funds if John McCain did (which McCain kept his word and did). In rejecting federal matching funds, Obama became the first candidate to reject such funds. After hypocritically and self-righteously praising the federal matching funds system as "limiting the corrupting influence of money on the race."

Obama is even worse than a liar. He is a deceiver; he carefully crafts a story with just enough of the truth in it to fool you so you will buy a whole package of lies.

An awful lot of people who voted for Obama or who are supporting his health care plan are going to find themselves very, very shocked if Obama gets anything close to his way.

Don't believe this president who was against individual mandates before he was for them. And don't forget his amazing lie that a huge tax increase isn't a tax increase.

[Michael Eden]

The smartest president who ever lived says that dictionary definitions are "made-up language."

As someone who experienced both Mister Rogers and Mr. Obama, I have to confess that I much preferred Mister Rogers when it came to "make believe."

[tbw2]

The dictionary is held as the gold standard on the meaning of words. I'll give Stephanopolous credit - he referenced a paper bound dictionary, not a wikipedia entry that would update to match Obama's whims before anyone else had a chance to check. ObamaCare Jokes Obama Jokes

[kabar]

From HR 3200:

What the bill says, pages 167-168, section 401, TAX ON INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE HEALTH CARE COVERAGE:

‘‘(a) TAX IMPOSED.—In the case of any individual who does not meet the requirements of subsection (d) at any time during the taxable year, there is hereby imposed a tax equal to 2.5 percent of the excess of—

(1) the taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross income for the taxable year, over

(2) the amount of gross income specified in section 6012(a)(1) with respect to the taxpayer. . . .”

EVALUATION OF THE PASSAGE:

1. This section amends the Internal Revenue Code.

2. Anyone caught without acceptable coverage and not in the government plan will pay a special tax.

3. The IRS will be a major enforcement mechanism for the plan.

I find it amusing that the MSM is focussing on the Baucus bill in this regard, yet the same tax is included in the House bill. There is also a similar tax levied on businesses that don’t provide acceptable health care coverage.

[Michael Eden]

I’m glad you pointed that out.

The fact that it’s in the Baucus bill is more than enough to show that Obama was lying, of course, but it’s nice to know that he’s pretty much a liar no matter where you look or how you slice it.

[kabar]

It is clearly in HR 3200 page 167 line 15.

It doesn't take much research to find it.

[Michael Eden]

If that isn’t enough to show that Obama is intentionally lying to the American people, a video compiling his campaign rhetoric proves that Obama knew that his plan would necessitate a tax increase:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmqu3_9MNIw

[TurtleUp]

but it’s nice to know that he’s pretty much a liar no matter where you look or how you slice it.

It's nice to know that my tagline will be current for the next 39 months.

[Michael Eden]

Oh, yeah.

You aint going to have to change that sucker.

Not as long as Obama’s lips keep moving, anyway.

And, given the fact that Obama is doing more talking than any 10 presidents in history combined, you can pretty much figure that’s he’s doing at least ten times as much lying.