Taxation Is The New Regulation

The strategy used by Congress and the rest of the Federal Government is changing, but not for the better. The Supreme Court ruled last week that the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, was Constitutional under the taxation clause, which allows Congress to tax American citizens. Originally, many thought that the law would be found Constitutional under the Commerce Clause, which allows Congress to regulate any interstate commerce. This clause has been long abused by Congress, justifying nearly any bill, no matter what the content, as dealing with commerce between the states. Thankfully, the Supreme Court struck down that notion, but there was a much more hazardous precedent put into place.

The Court justified the law under the taxation clause, saying that the penalty that is applied if one chooses not to purchase healthcare is a tax. The main reason that this ruling is incorrect is that the penalty is not a tax. As Peter Schiff explained, "Just because money flows from [a citizen] to the Federal Government doesn't make it a tax." The reason it isn't a tax is because it isn't applied to everyone, nor is it applied to a purchase. It is applied only to people who have decided not to comply with the mandate. That is not what a tax is. In fact, the Constitution clearly says that Congress is not allowed to use taxation to legislate, which is exactly what this is doing. They are taxing someone into buying something because they would not be able to simply mandate it. Call it "legislating by the tax."

The worst part of this ruling is the precedent that it sets. The Court has now set a precedent that Congress can make any law, no matter the Constitutionality, as long as it applies a tax. You see, it used to be that Congress could force Americans to do anything it wanted by saying that the law affects interstate commerce. That precedent has changed now, but for the worse. Now, Congress can still make any law it wants, but now they are required to raise taxes to pass it. So now we have the same laws forcing Americans to comply, but now our taxes are going up along with the force.

This was a very dissapointing ruling in my eyes. The founders would be ashamed of the state that the Court is at, both because of the political lines that have been drawn and because of the Constitution-stretching that has taken place. Now, in this upcoming election, the American electorate is being shown two options: the author of the ACA, and the author of the structure that was used in writing the ACA. Mitt Romney has come out strong in saying that he will "repeal and replace" Obamacare, but what does that mean? Replace it with Romneycare? Unfortunately, I think that is so. It is time that the American people wake up and realize what is going on, or the overreach of the Federal Government will continue.