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Romney(Care) Complicates GOP Push To Label ‘Obamacare’ A Tax (Huge Tax Increase in Massachusetts?)
TPM ^ | July 1, 2012 | Sahil Kapur

Posted on 07/06/2012 5:22:25 AM PDT by xzins

Republicans are seizing on the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold ‘Obamacare’ under Congress’s taxing power to accuse Democrats of raising taxes on the middle class. But they’re finding it difficult to square that with the fact that their presidential nominee enacted the same concept as governor of Massachusetts.

Although Mitt Romney has vowed to repeal ‘Obamacare’, his 2006 law includes the same core elements, including the mandate to purchase insurance or pay a fine. In 2009, Romney wrote in a USA Today op-ed that he used “tax penalties” to achieve the objective of broadening coverage.

On Fox News Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) attacked President Obama for sneaking a tax increase past the American public.

“The Supreme Court has now declared it a tax. They have unearthed the massive deception that was practiced by the president and the Democrats, constantly denying that it was a tax,” McConnell said. “The chief justice has made it clear — it’s a tax.”

But the GOP leader dodged several questions on whether ‘Romneycare’ is also a tax increase.

“Well I think Governor Romney will have to speak for himself about what was done in Massachusetts,” McConnell said. “I can tell you that every single Democratic senator voted for this tax increase.”

On CBS’ Face The Nation, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) also ducked questions about whether Romney has a credibility problem because of his mandate.

“This is an issue that was in Massachusetts — that’s one state,” he said. “That’s why we have 50 different states. They’re laboratories of democracy. Governor Romney understands that Obamacare will bankrupt our country and ruin the best health care delivery system in the world. … This is far more than any state has ever comprehended or tried to do.”

The Congressional Budget Office projects that the tax penalty will hit 4 million people in 2016, or just over 1 percent of the population.

White House chief of staff Jack Lew, also appearing on Fox News Sunday, repeatedly denied that the penalty for noncompliance with the individual mandate is a tax hike, even though it’s enforced via the tax code and was upheld on Congress’s taxing powers.

“It was set up and it was not called a tax,” he said. “But there are powers that Congress has and you can justify a law in multiple ways.” Obama’s top aide added that “When he was governor of Massachusetts, Governor Romney put a plan in place that has many of the features that the Affordable Care Act makes available on a national basis.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called the mandate “a penalty on free-riders.”

“Mitt Romney is in a total pickle here. He prescribed this. This was his bill,” Schumer said on CBS’ Face The Nation. “Are [Republicans] going to say that Mitt Romney had the biggest tax increase in Massachusetts? Forget about it.”

Romney, for his part, responded to the Supreme Court ruling by saying, “If we want to get rid of Obamacare, we’re going to have to replace President Obama.”


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: elections; obamacare; romneycare; romneytruthfile
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To: longtermmemmory; IMR 4350

So, I take it that both of you think that the State of Massachusetts has a Constitutional right to deny you the free exercise of religion.

Is that right?

That if I don’t like it, then I just shouldn’t live there.


61 posted on 07/06/2012 10:24:11 AM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for their victory!)
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To: sickoflibs

Let’s face it Romney is a fail as a conservative. Look at the state he is from. He had to be a liberal. Rebuplicans make sorry conservatives..


62 posted on 07/06/2012 10:24:21 AM PDT by dalebert
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To: reaganaut

Thing is, he won’t (and can’t) and anyone who thinks this is anything but a campaign lie is stupid.
++++++++++++++
Well I guess some people see the future better than others.


63 posted on 07/06/2012 11:04:59 AM PDT by InterceptPoint (TIN)
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To: InterceptPoint; reaganaut
Well I guess some people see the future better than others.

No, you just refuse to learn from history.

Romney has RomneyCare. He is on record this campaign season for implementing RomneyCare across all of the states. RomneyCare has it's own penalty and it's own Individiual Mandate both of which Mitt is on record during this campaign season of still being in support of and being very proud of.

Mitt will do next to nothing substantitive in real terms in making a difference where Socialized health care is concerned.

He will be a distinction without a difference.
64 posted on 07/06/2012 11:27:23 AM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency.)
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To: SoConPubbie

Look, we have to choose between a known Marxist and a known RINO.

I choose the RINO.

Not my first choice or my second. But the damage to the country from four more years of Marxist rule, Chicago style, will require decades to repair.

We survived eight years of Bush, hardly your Goldwater/Reagan conservative, and we can survive eight years of Romney.


65 posted on 07/06/2012 11:58:38 AM PDT by InterceptPoint (TIN)
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To: xzins

Dude, I’m just telling you what the Congress did and the Court upheld and the tax bill they used as a vehicle to pass it and MAKE it pass constitutional muster before the court. The income tax code has all sorts of provisions that allow you to get money back whether you paid tax in or not. You can have zero income and still get an income tax refund, while others are penalized for having a larger amount of income and engaging, or not engaging, in certain behaviors, all through the tax code.

I’m not justifying it to you, I am just telling you their rationale.


66 posted on 07/06/2012 12:20:42 PM PDT by ngat
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To: InterceptPoint

You keep just repeating, we can’t survive four more years of Obama.

But, Obama might win despite our best efforts. If that happens, I plan to survive the next four years of a lame-duck Obama administration. This country can survive it.

So, stop with the hand-wringing.


67 posted on 07/06/2012 12:25:13 PM PDT by ngat
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To: ngat

Sorry, man, but again you aren’t seeing it. The income tax does not penalize you for what you don’t have. It might reward you for what you do (put in energy-efficient windows) but it doesn’t penalize you for NOT putting in energy windows.

Getting a check even though you’ve earned no income, is not a penalty for earning no income. (As amazing as it seems, they are rewarding having no income.)

I can’t think of one thing in the income tax code that penalizes you for not doing something. (You don’t eat broccoli, therefore your income tax is higher.)

If you can point out one example, then I’ll be glad to rephrase what I’m saying.


68 posted on 07/06/2012 12:39:04 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for their victory!)
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To: dalebert
RE :”Let’s face it Romney is a fail as a conservative. Look at the state he is from. He had to be a liberal. Rebuplicans make sorry conservatives..

Back during the primaries I would imagine that Romney would fight as hard with Obama as he was against the conservatives so he might still have a decent chance of winning; but watching it play out in slow motion it is obvious how Romney being a liberal who cant run as a liberal is a disaster as candidate. He is just an empty suit who has nothing to run on, or run for.

I don't even want to imagine him in the WH either.

Romney strikes me as the name I made up for Bill O Reilly, He is just another ‘Rich Liberal who doesn't want to personally pay higher taxes’

69 posted on 07/06/2012 12:44:56 PM PDT by sickoflibs (ABBBO chant: "We must support Romney because he doesn't matter." (Obam-ney Care is bad now ))
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To: ngat

Who said we wouldn’t survive? It’s the repair time I’m worried about. I’m not wringing my hands, I’m just observing what 95% of the people on this website believe:

Romney is a better choice than Obama. Seems obvious to me and many others.


70 posted on 07/06/2012 12:54:49 PM PDT by InterceptPoint (TIN)
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To: sickoflibs

yes!


71 posted on 07/06/2012 2:29:28 PM PDT by dalebert
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To: InterceptPoint
I choose the RINO.

You are not choosing a RINO, you are choosing a Progressive Liberal.


72 posted on 07/06/2012 8:44:47 PM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency.)
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To: xzins

” - - - The GOP-E loves Romney more than they love winning.”

I think that you are right.

After today’s Job Gift to Romney and then watching fumble the free gift all the way to the ground, hopefully the smarter ones in the GOP-E will now consider DUMPING Romney by an ABSTAIN vote on the first ballot in Tampa.

A National Election is a terrible thing to waste.


73 posted on 07/06/2012 9:21:28 PM PDT by Graewoulf ((Traitor John Roberts' Obama"care" violates Sherman Anti-Trust Law, AND the U.S. Constitution.))
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To: xzins
The courts have already established you have a right to religious freedom no matter where you live.

There are restrictions on religion.

You can believe anything you want, but you cannot act on those beliefs if those beliefs are intended to harm someone else.

For example, you can believe in human sacrifice if you want, you are not free to act on those beliefs.

That's why if you would actually look at that monstrosity of a mosque or whatever the muslims want to build at Ground Zero, you will see it is unconstitutional. The intent, based on muslim religious beliefs, is to proclaim that area as muslim territory and deny others religious freedom.

74 posted on 07/07/2012 5:57:24 AM PDT by IMR 4350
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To: IMR 4350

The courts did not establish freedom of religion. God did. It is a violation of your God-given rights no matter where you see it.

Likewise, any time someone starts taxing you for what you don’t have, then they have crossed a boundary.

Is it a violation of freedom if we tax the Amish for not having cars?


75 posted on 07/07/2012 8:08:37 AM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for their victory!)
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To: SoConPubbie
You are not choosing a RINO, you are choosing a Progressive Liberal.

Versus a known Marxist. I'll take the Progressive Liberal.

76 posted on 07/07/2012 11:47:45 AM PDT by InterceptPoint (TIN)
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To: xzins

So apparently you believe you have a right to human sacrifice.

I don’t believe you have that right.


77 posted on 07/07/2012 12:32:58 PM PDT by IMR 4350
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To: IMR 4350

There is no right to kill. God established that, too.


78 posted on 07/07/2012 5:00:12 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for their victory!)
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To: IMR 4350

There is no right to kill. God established that, too.

Endowed by their Creator with..rights...life...


79 posted on 07/07/2012 5:01:03 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for their victory!)
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To: xzins
Tell it to the muslims.

That's why the state has a right to limit your religion.

You can believe what you want, but you are not free to act on those beliefs if it harms others.

80 posted on 07/07/2012 5:50:34 PM PDT by IMR 4350
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