The Biggest Tax Increase In U.S. History?

Merrill Matthews

Forbes, 07/26/10

President Obama has repeatedly asserted that the new health care law's individual mandate requiring everyone to have qualified health insurance coverage or pay a penalty is not a tax. In a testy exchange with ABC's George Stephanopoulos--who, ironically, also pushed for sweeping health care reform legislation when he worked for then-President Bill Clinton--Stephanopoulos pointed out that ObamaCare critics call the mandate a tax. Obama rejected the claim and noted that his critics call everything a tax: "For us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase." And yet the Justice Department now claims the mandate is a tax, but not because the legislation refers to the mandate as a tax--it doesn't. Rather, the lawyers at Justice want the Supreme Court to confer its blessings on ObamaCare when the issue comes before the Court, and the lawyers are increasingly concerned that the 20-plus state challenge claiming the mandate is unconstitutional may hold up. Read more...