The Homa Files

Ken’s Take: The IRS says it will fine or jail you for not paying Obama’s mandate levy.

So, we let thugs free because of jail overcrowding and budget constraints but incarcerate folks who refuse to buy health insurance? 

You just can’t make this stuff up …

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WSJ:  Rhetorical Tax Evasion, Sept. 29, 2009 

The Baucus bill includes the so-called individual mandate, along with what he calls a $1,900 “excise tax” if you don’t buy health insurance.

It had been as much as $3,800 but Dems reduced the amount last week to minimize the political sticker shock.

And, lo, it turns out that if you don’t pay that tax, the IRS could punish you with a $25,000 fine or up to a year in jail, or both.

Under questioning last week, Tom Barthold, the chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, admitted that the individual mandate would become a part of the Internal Revenue Code and that failing to comply would be a “criminal” act. The willful failure to file would be a simple misdemeanor, punishable by the $25,000 fine or jail time under Section 7203 — statute covering tax evasion.

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In the 1994 health-care debate, the CBO called the individual mandate “an unprecedented form of federal action.”

“The government has never before required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.”

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Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574439243760133458.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

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This entry was posted on September 29, 2009 at 7:59 am and is filed under Health Care / Medical Insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.