ObamaCare Is “A Big F***ing” Tax

The Individual Mandate Is Now Officially Among ObamaCare’s Many Taxes on Middle Class Families and Small Businesses 

• The Supreme Court declared yesterday that the individual mandate, a central component of ObamaCare, is a massive tax increase.
• America’s middle class families will have to pay the overwhelming majority of the individual mandate tax thanks to ObamaCare, even though Democrats claimed over and over that the individual mandate was not a tax increase.
• Sadly the individual mandate is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the many tax increases under ObamaCare.

The Supreme Court declared yesterday that the individual mandate, a central component of ObamaCare, is a massive tax increase:

SUPREME COURT: THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE  “MAY REASONABLY BE CHARACTERIZED AS A TAX”: “The Affordable Care Act’s requirement that certain individuals pay a financial penalty for not obtaining health insurance may reasonably be characterized as a tax.” (Chief Justice John Roberts, 567 U.S. ____(2012), Supreme Court of the United States, 6/28/2012, p. 44) 

“SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS OBAMA’S HEALTH-CARE LAW”: “Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Thursday joined the liberal wing of the Supreme Court to save the heart of President Obama’s landmark health-care law, agreeing that the requirement for nearly all Americans to secure health insurance is permissible under Congress’s taxing authority.” (Robert Barnes, N.C. Aizenman and William Branigin, “Supreme Court Upholds Obama’s Health-Care Law,” The Washington Post, 6/28/2012) 

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN SAID OBAMACARE WAS “A BIG F—ING DEAL”:“Vice President Joe Biden, perhaps overcome with excitement during his speech congratulating President Obama on the passage of health care reform, dropped an F-bomb on live television when he turned to Obama and said, ‘This is a big fucking deal.'” (” ‘A Big F—ing Deal’: Biden’s Health Care Reform F-Bomb On Live TV,” The Huffington Post, 5/23/2012)

America’s middle class families will have to pay the overwhelming majority of the individual mandate tax thanks to ObamaCare, even though Democrats claimed over and over that the individual mandate was not a tax increase:

DEMOCRATS INSISTED DURING PASSAGE OF OBAMACARE THAT THE MANDATE WASN’T A TAX INCREASE:

OOPS: OBAMA SAID IN 2009 THAT HIS INDIVIDUAL MANDATE WAS “ABSOLUTELY NOT A TAX INCREASE”: STEPHANOPOULOS: “Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you don’t. How is that not a tax?” … PRESIDENT 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.” (“Obama: Mandate Is Not A Tax,” ABC News, 9/20/09)

MORE OBAMA: “I ABSOLUTELY REJECT THAT NOTION”: STEPHANOPOULOS: “But you reject that it’s a tax increase?” PRESIDENT OBAMA: “I absolutely reject that notion.“ (“Obama: Mandate Is Not A Tax,” ABC News, 9/20/09)

IN FACT, IT IS A TAX INCREASE ON THE MIDDLE CLASS:

CBO AND JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION: AT LEAST 75% OF MANDATE PENALTIES WILL FALL ON INDIVIDUALS MAKING UNDER $60K AND FAMILIES MAKING UNDER $120K: (“Estimated Distribution Of Individual Mandate Penalties Under The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act,” Congressional Budget Office & Joint Committee On Taxation, 11/20/09) 

OBAMA IN 2008: “IF YOU’RE A FAMILY MAKING LESS THAN $250,000 A YEAR, MY PLAN WON’T RAISE YOUR TAXES ONE PENNY”: ” ‘And if you’re a family making less than $250,000 a year, my plan won’t raise your taxes one penny — not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes,’ Obama told an audience in Orlando, Florida, in August 2008, something he repeated at almost every opportunity.” (Kevin Hassett, “ObamaCare Tax Frays Middle-Class Vow,” Bloomberg, 10/12/2009)

PELOSI TODAY: INDIVIDUAL MANDATE BEING A TAX IS A TECHNICALITY: ” ‘Call it what you will, it is a step forward for America’s families and you know what? Take yes for an answer,’ Pelosi told reporters. … ‘Technical terms, that’s for us here,’ Pelosi said. ‘What it means for the American people is what it does to them.'” (Seung Min Kim, “Pelosi Ducks Whether Mandate’s A Tax,” Politico, 6/28/2012)

Sadly the individual mandate is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the many tax increases under ObamaCare:

21 OBAMACARE TAX HIKES IN EFFECT OR ON THE WAY: (“Supreme Court’s Health Law Decision Leaves in Place 21 Tax Hikes Costing More Than $675 Billion,” House Committee on Ways and Means, 6/28/2012) 

NEW ESTIMATE OF JUST PART OF THE OBAMACARE TAX HIKES IS ALREADY AT LEAST $675 BILLION: (Thomas A. Barthold, “Revenue Estimates,” Joint Committee on Taxation, 6/15/2012) 

BUT TOTAL TAX INCREASE WOULD EXCEED $804 BILLION: (“Supreme Court’s Health Law Decision Leaves in Place 21 Tax Hikes Costing More Than $675 Billion,” House Committee on Ways and Means, 6/28/2012)

OBAMACARE’S JOB-DESTROYING TAXES ON SMALL BUSINESSES:

NFIB STUDY: 150K SMALL BUSINESS JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY OBAMACARE’S HEALTH INSURANCE TAX: (“NFIB Research Foundation Study: Health Insurance Tax to Cost 125,000 to 249,000 Private-Sector Jobs,” NFIB, 11/9/2011)

NEW STUDY: AT LEAST 14,500 JOBS OR AS MANY AS 47,000 JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY OBAMACARE’S HEART ATTACK TAX: (Michael Ramlet, Robert Book and Han Zhong, “The Economic Impact of the Medical Device Tax,” American Action Forum, 6/4/2012)

13,303 SMALL- TO MEDIUM-SIZE MEDICAL DEVICE FIRMS IN U.S., OR 91% OF ALL MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANIES COULD BE AFFECTED: (Michael Ramlet, Robert Book and Han Zhong, “The Economic Impact of the Medical Device Tax,” American Action Forum, 6/4/2012)

HEALTHCARE LEADERSHIP COUNCIL: 43,000 MEDICAL DEVICE INDUSTRY WORKERS COULD BE LAID OFF BY HEART ATTACK TAX: “Under reasonable assumptions, the tax could result in job losses in excess of 43,000 and employment compensation losses in excess of $3.5 billion.” (“Employment Effects of the New Excise Tax on the Medical Device Industry,” Healthcare Leadership Council, September 2011)

A TAX ON PETS: IRS SAYS MEDICAL DEVICES USED ON BOTH ANIMALS AND HUMANS WILL BE TAXED: “The commentator suggested that if the manufacturer can demonstrate that a device is sold for use in veterinary medicine, the excise tax should not be imposed on that sale.  The proposed regulations do not adopt this suggestion because the statutory language does not limit the definition of ‘taxable medical device’ to devices intended exclusively for humans.  Therefore, a device that is intended for humans but that is also intended for use or used in veterinary medicine is a ‘taxable medical device’ if it is listed as a device with the FDA pursuant to FDA requirements, and does not fall within an exemption under section 4191(b)(2), such as the retail exemption.” (Steven T. Miller, “Taxable Medical Devices,” Internal Revenue Service, 2/3/2012)

OBAMACARE’S HEART ATTACK TAX WOULD TAX “EVERYTHING FROM CARDIAC DEFIBRILLATORS TO ARTIFICIAL JOINTS TO MRI SCANNERS”:“‘Taxmageddon’ isn’t only about the half-trillion-dollar blow to the economy that arrives in 2013 on the end of the Bush-Obama tax rates. Several of the Affordable Care Act’s worst tax increases kick in too, such as the new excise tax on medical devices. The 2.3% levy applies to the sale of everything from cardiac defibrillators to artificial joints to MRI scanners.” (Editorial, “Improvised Explosive Device Tax,” The Wall Street Journal, 5/28/2012)

THE TAX COULD HIT PACEMAKERS, STENTS, ELASTIC BANDAGES, ARTIFICIAL HIPS AND KNEES, ETC.: (Susan Kelly, “Medical Device Tax May Spur Price Hikes, Cost Cuts,” Reuters, 4/18/2012)