A Tax by Any Other Name

Americans are preparing their tax returns for 2014, and navigating the new health insurance law is causing anxiety for many. Others are not too worried about the penalty tax; they are ignoring the law and taking their chances with the Internal Revenue Service.

Let’s remind ourselves that then-Senator Obama campaigned in 2008 on the promise that he would not raise taxes if he were elected president, meaning federal income taxes. Then, to be more specific, he followed up this statement by saying that his health care reform would not raise taxes on the middle class. He went further to vow that his health care reform would not raise taxes on those who earn less than $200,000. He also campaigned in 2008 against the individual mandate to distinguish himself from Hillary Clinton in the Democrat primary. The individual mandate to buy health insurance, with a penalty for not doing so, is the most controversial provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.P.A.C.A.) and the enforcement tool of the mandate is a tax. So much for either campaign pledge.