"Supporters of the insurance requirement say that it constitutes a tax, not a personal mandate, and that the Constitution gives Congress broad power to tax."
"Challenges to tax laws succeed only when taxes directly or indirectly burden the exercise of fundamental rights, and there is no fundamental right to be uninsured," says Professor Mark Hall of Wake Forest University."
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/A_Politics/healthcare.pdf
McKenna's website: http://www.atg.wa.gov/pressrelease.aspx?&id=25402
A tax is a levy,
ReplyDeletepaid directly to a government,
and that provides for a shared benefit.
A fine levied against people that pay cash for their health care is not a tax.
People that are required to buy a private corporation's products,
at a government-determined benefits level,
or face a financial penalty as a result,
are being fined,
not taxed.
Does a person have the right to pay cash for health care?
Is a citizen pre-judged as irresponsible for opting-out of profit-based insurance schemes?
The other question is the expansion of Medicaid.
While the federal purse contributes to the pot,
they do so only through matching funds from the State.
Does the Government have the right to place these burdens directly on each citizen of every State?
An open mind welcomes these questions as a chance for clarification - if only through the Fog of The Supremes.