I am confused now. If West says it is a tax, then he is disagreeing with Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito. Why are we getting bogged down in this minutiae?
Tax or penalty it is bad. We need to communcate this.
As Mark Levin said yesterday it doesn’t really matter whether it is a tax, a penalty, or a cucumber, it is wrong for this country and we need to drive that point home.
You are partly right. He is disagreeing with the dissenters. Here is what they said: "The joint dissenters argue that we cannot uphold §5000A as a tax because Congress did not “frame” it as such. Post, at 17. In effect, they contend that even if the Constitution permits Congress to do exactly what we interpret this statute to do, the law must be struck down because Congress used the wrong labels."
The problem is that it is now, officially a tax. It has been named as such by judicial fiat in the majority opinion. Roberts (and his liberal cohorts) went way outside the lines of even judicial activism to label it a tax (despite the fact that Congress failed to do so) and therefore find it constitutional.
So West is right, too. It is a tax. And the only reason Romney and his aides cannot bring themselves to utter the word is because it negatively reflects on Romney's own trip down the road to socialized medicine.
But call it what you want. Tax or not, healthcare is a non-starter for Romney's campaign. He does not have the cojones to admit he was wrong. And all the bluster about repealing it on the first day of his presidency is just that, bluster. He would not have the power alone, and it is becoming clear that he will not have the support in the Senate either, as McConnell continues to weasel his way out of fighting to repeal.
Calling it a tax allows for reconciliation to reverse it. A “penalty” is not reversible through reconciliation. My understanding.
We need to stop arguing about the tax/penalty question.
It’s nothing but a distraction.
The main point is that for some unfathomable reason, Roberts decided to uphold the law.
West should concentrate now on helping Romney get elected, not sniping at his campaign.
It’s puzzling to me why we, on this conservative forum, root around for everything negative about Romney when we should be galvanizing support for him.
He’s done nothing wrong in this campaign.
Tax or fee, the Obamacare bill must be defeated and Obama certainly won’t do it.