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AffordableCareAct 10 - 25 Jan 2012 - Main.RyanBingham
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| | Discussion of statutes
begins always with the statutory language. Much water has been
flowed under the bridge below before Arlene even mentions the | | | -- RohanGrey - 24 Jan 2012 | |
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> | tax n. a governmental assessment (charge) upon property value, transactions (transfers and sales), licenses granting a right, and/or income. (http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/tax).
The usual notion of a tax is that it is something collected on the basis of positive events. Which is to say, you typically have a free choice about whether you will undertake the actions that will lead to a tax being collected from you. The fee that would be exacted under the Affordable Care Act (whether we call it a tax or a penalty) would be resting on a person's choice not to do something--that is, not to pay for insurance that they don't want. I have heard people argue that it is really a tax on the affirmative choice to be a "self-insurer," and not on the choice to refrain from buying insurance, but this line of argument strikes me as duplicitous. Failing to purchase something seems to be more of non-action than an action--even if that failure to purchase entails a plan to purchase a substitute at a later time. What do you think?
Then again, maybe this doesn't matter. Maybe taxes don't have to be tied to positive transactions. Does anyone know of other taxes that are based on a non-action? There is the estate tax, for instance. Dying isn't usually a choice, but the estate still gets taxed, regardless. Then again, death is definitely an event, as opposed to a non-event.
If we determine that money exacted on the basis on a non-event can't be termed a "tax," and that the Affordable Care Act falls under this head, then we'd have a problem with arguing in favor of the Act under the taxing power. Can we make solid determinations on these questions?
-- RyanBingham - 25 Jan 2012
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The detailed summary of the Act (dpc.senate.gov/healthreformbill/healthbill04.pdf) lists the payment as a penalty: "Beginning in 2014, most individuals will be required to maintain minimum essential coverage or pay a penalty of $95 in 2014, $350 in 2015, $750 in 2016 and indexed thereafter; for those under 18, the penalty will be one-half the amount for adults. Exceptions to this requirement are made for religious objectors, those who cannot afford coverage, taxpayers with incomes less than 100 percent FPL, Indian tribe members, those who receive a hardship waiver, individuals not lawfully present, incarcerated individuals, and those not covered for less than three months." Do the categories of objectors give us any indication as to whether it resembles a tax or a penalty? The fact that there are exceptions made for religious objectors indicates to me that the fee resembles a penalty more than a tax; I couldn't find many taxes out of which it was possible to opt out based on religious objection. It looks like you can do so with the social security tax if you have religious objections to being part of a social insurance system, but that doesn't seem to parallel the case here. |
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