The individual mandate was deemed constitutional by the highest court in the land today. Pete Williams, chief justice correspondent for NBC News, asked Tom Goldstein, publisher of the popular SCOTUSblog, a question that we at The Last Word have been asking for months: how does the government penalize you for not buying health insurance? In other words, what’s the penalty for not paying the penalty. Goldstein didn’t seem to have an answer.
Later, on Andrea Mitchell Reports, Williams clarified the issue by referring to a footnote in the court’s opinion. Here are both exchanges:
The footnote Pete Williams is referring to is this one, on page 44 of Chief Justice Roberts’s majority opinion:
Of course, individuals do not have a lawful choice not to pay a tax due, and may sometimes face prosecution for failing to do so (although not for declining to make the shared responsibility payment, see 26 U. S. C. §5000A(g)(2)). But that does not show that the tax restricts the lawful choice whether to undertake or forgo the activity on which the taxis predicated. Those subject to the individual mandate may lawfully forgo health insurance and pay higher taxes, or buy health insurance and pay lower taxes. The only thing they may not lawfully do is not buy health insurance and not pay the resulting tax.
As you'll notice, the key part here is not the footnote, but the parenthetical inside the footnote, which refers to section 5000A(g)(2), where the "waiver on criminal penalties" and "limitations liens and levies" can be found.
Chief Justice John Roberts’ says in the footnote that eligible individuals have to either buy health insurance or pay the resulting tax, implying that the IRS can go after those who do neither — but the law itself strips the IRS of the tools it normally uses to do so. So the question remains: what is the penalty for not paying the penalty?
Leave a Comment:
Americans can be such selfish @!$%#s sometimes. So you pay a little higher taxes. It's not like you get a bill every month, it's included in the taxes you pay. Most people won't even notice. What this really is about is selfish @!$%#tards who are unwilling to pay a slight increase in tax in order to save countless lives. Affordable healthcare should be a right. Why is it that you Americans have the right to own a gun, but not to be taken care of without going bankrupt at the same time? How evil is it to say to a poor family "Sorry your kid has cancer, but I don't want to pay a tiny bit extra on my taxes so too bad."? This coming from a supposed "Christian" country? Newsflash, Christ said that what you do to the poorest of your people, you do to him. Pfft.... You guys don't even know what being a Christian means.
Hi Alexandra. Thanks for the comment! You're right; it boggles the mind (to borrow a phrase from Scalia). The truth, I think, is that this country is still deeply divided. There are millions of Americans who put a lot of faith in personal responsibility, arguably much too much of it. They believe that what one earns is what one should, in large part, keep. The challenge is to convince them that a more equal society is a richer one for all. -Evan
1. Accounts Receivable Tax
2. Accounting and Tax Preparation (cost to taxpayers $300 billion)
3. Accumulated Earnings Tax
4. Accumulation Distribution of Trusts
5. Activity Fee (Dumping Permit Fee)
6 . Air Tax (PA coin-operated vacuums)
7. Aircraft Jet Fuel Tax
8. Aircraft Excise Tax
9 . Alcohol Fuels Tax
10. Alcoholic Beverage Tax
11. Alternative Minimum Tax – Amt
12. Ambulance Services (Air Ambulance Services, SD)
13. Ammunition Tax
14. Amusement Tax (MA, VA, MD)
15. Animal Slaughter Tax (WI, others, Per Animal)
16. Annual Custodial Fees (Ira Accounts)
17. Ballast Water Management Fee (Marine Invasive Species)
18. Biodiesel Fuel Tax
19. Blueberry Tax (Maine)
20. Bribe Taxes (Pay If You Dare)
21. Brothel licensing fees
22. Building Permit Tax
23. Capital Gains Tax
24. California Interstate User Diesel Fuel Tax
25. California Redemption Value (Can and Bottle Tax)
26. CDL License Tax
27. Charter Boat Captain License
28. Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Fee
29. Cigarette Tax
30. Cigarette Tax Stamp (Acts) (Distributors)
31. Compressed Natural Gas Tax
32. Commercial Activity Tax (OH – for Service Providers)
33. Corporate Income Tax
34. Court Fines (Indirect Taxes)
35. County Property Tax
36. Disposable Diapers Tax (Wisconsin)
37. Disposal Fee (Any Landfill Dumping)
38. Dog License Tax
39. Duck Hunting Tax Stamp (PA, others)
40. Electronic Waste Recycling Fee (E-Waste)
41. Emergency Telephone User Surcharge
42. Environmental Fee (CA – HazMat Fees)
43. Estate Tax (Death Tax, to be reinstated)
44. Excise Taxes
45. Facility Fee (CA – HazMat Fees)
46. FDIC tax (insurance premium on bank deposits)
47. Federal Income Tax
48. Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
49. Fiduciary Income Tax (Estates and Trusts)
50. Fishing License Tax
51. Flush Tax (MD Tax For Producing Wastewater)
52. Food License Tax
53. Fountain Soda Drink Tax (Chicago – 9%)
54. Franchise Tax
55. Fresh Fruit (CA, if Purchased From A Vending Machine)
56. Fuel Gross Receipts Tax (Retail/Distributor)
57. Fuel Permit Tax
58. Fur Clothing Tax (MN)
59. Garbage Tax
60. Gasoline Tax (475 Cents Per Gallon)
61. Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax
62. Generator Fee (Recycled Waste Fee)
63. Gift Tax
64. Gross Receipts Tax
65. Habitat Stamp (Hunting/Fishing in some states)
66. Hamburger Tax
67. Hazardous Substances Fees: Generator, Facility, Disposal
68. Highway Access Fee
69. Household Employment Taxes
70. Hunting License Tax
71. Illegal Drug Possession (No Carolina)
72. Individual Income Tax
73. Inheritance Tax
74. Insect Control Hazardous Materials License
75. Insurance Premium Tax
76. Intangible Tax (Leases Of Govt. Owned Real Property)
77. Integrated Waste Management Fee
78. Interstate User Diesel Fuel Tax
79. Inventory Tax
80. IRA Rollover Tax (a transfer of IRA money)
81. IRA Early Withdrawal Tax
82. IRS Interest Charges
83. IRS Penalties (Tax On Top Of Tax)
84. Jock Tax (income earned by athletes in some states)
85. Kerosene, Distillate, & Stove Oil Taxes
86. Kiddie Tax (Child’s Earned Interest Form 8615)
87. Land Gains and Real Estate Withholding
88. Lead Poisoning Prevention Fee (Occupational)
89. Lease Severance Tax
90. Library Tax
91. Liquid Natural Gas Tax
92. Liquid Petroleum Gas Tax
93. Liquor Tax
94. Litigation Tax (TN Imposes Varies With the Offense)
95. LLC/PLLC Corporate Registration Tax
96. Local Income Tax
97. Lodging Taxes
98. Lump-Sum Distributions
99. Luxury Taxes
100. Make-Up Tax (Ohio, applying in a salon is taxable)
101. Marriage License Tax
102. Meal Tax
103. Medicare Tax
104. Mello-Roos Taxes (Special Taxes and Assessments)
105. Migratory Waterfowl Stamp (addition to hunting license)
106. Minnow Dealers License (Retail – For One Shop)
107. Minnow Dealers License (Distributor – For One+ Shops)
108. Mobile Home Ad Valorem Taxes
109. Motor Fuel Tax (For Suppliers)
110. Motor Vehicle Tax
111. Music and Dramatic Performing Rights Tax
112. Nudity Tax (Utah)
113. Nursery Registration (Buying and selling plants)
114. Occupancy Inspection Fees
115. Occupation Taxes and Fees (Various Professional Fees)
116. Oil and Gas Assessment Tax
117. Oil Spill Response, Prevention, and Administration Fee
118. Parking Space Taxes
119. Pass-Through Withholding
120. Pay-Phone Calls Tax (Indiana)
121. Percolation Test Fee
122. Personal Property Tax
123. Personal Holding Company (undistributed earnings)
124. Pest Control License
125. Petroleum Business Tax
126. Playing Card Tax (Al)
127. Pole Tax (TX – A $5 Cover Charge On Strip Clubs)
128. Profit from Illegal Drug Dealing
129. Property Tax
130. Property Transfer Tax (DE, ownership transfer between parties)
131. Prostitution Tax (NV – Prostitute Work Permits)
132. Poultry Registered Premises License (Sales License)
133. Rain Water Tax (Runoff after a Storm)
134. Rat Control Fee (CA)
135. Real Estate Tax
136. Recreational Vehicle Tax
137. Refrigerator and Freezer Recycling Fees
138. Regional Transit Taxing Authority (Trains)
139. Road Usage Tax
140. Room Tax (Hotel Rooms)
141. Sales Tax (State)
142. Sales Tax (City)
143. Sales And Use Tax (Sellers Permit)
144. School Tax
145. Service Charge Tax
146. Self Employment Tax
147. Septic And Drain Field Inspection Fees
148. Sex Sales Tax (UT, when nude people perform services)
149. Sewer & Water Tax
150. Social Security Tax
151. Sparkler and Novelties Tax (WV Sellers of Sparklers, etc)
152. Special Assessment Tax (Not Ad Valorem)
153. State Documentary Stamp Tax on Notes (FL RE Tax)
154. State Franchise Tax
155. State Income Tax
156. State Park Fees
157. State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
158. Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) Fuel Tax
159. Stud Fees (Kentucky’s Thoroughbred Sex Tax)
160. Tangible Personal Property Tax
161. Tattoo Tax (AR Tax On Tattoos)
162. Telephone 911 Service Tax (some states)
163. Telephone Federal Excise Tax
164. Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
165. Telephone Federal Surcharge Taxes
166. Telephone State Surcharge Taxes
167. Telephone Local Surcharge Taxes
168. Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
169. Telephone Recurring Charges Tax
170. Telephone Universal Access Tax
171. Telephone Non-Recurring Charges Tax
172. Telephone State Usage Charge Tax
173. Telephone Local Usage Charge Tax
174. Tire Recycling Fee
175. Tobacco Tax (Cigar, Pipe, Consumer Tax)
176. Tobacco Tax (Cigar, Pipe, Dealer Tax)
177. Toll Road Taxes
178. Toll Bridge Taxes
179. Toll Tunnel Taxes
180. Tourism or Concession License Fee
181. Traffic Fines (Indirect Taxation)
182. Transportable Treatment Unit Fee (Small Facility)
183. Trailer Registration Tax
184. Trout Stamp (Addendum To Fish License)
185. Use Taxes (On Out-Of-State Purchases)
186. Utility Taxes
187. Unemployment Tax
188. Underground Storage Tank Maintenance Fee
189. Underpayment of Estimated Tax (Form 2210)
190. Unreported Tip Income (Social Security and Medicare Tax)
191. Vehicle License
192. Vehicle Recovery Tax (CO, to find stolen cars)
193. Vehicle Registration Tax
194. Vehicle Sales Tax
195. Wagering Tax (Tax on Gambling Winnings)
196. Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) Fuel Tax
197. Water Rights Fee
198. Watercraft Registration Tax
199. Waterfowl Stamp Tax
200. Well Permit Tax
201. Wiring Inspection Fees
202. Workers Compensation Tax
Good to see you, Evan... Somebody was hollering a few days ago that nobody from NBC was reading this stuff...
You're presence is an answer to the cynics; best of luck when it comes to "field dressing" trolls... I'm a big believer in Kevlar flak jackets, myself...
And your philosophy is admirable enough, but I also keep an extra browser window open for the Google God... Some can be pretty awful prevaricators (see Issa, Darrell), and they sometimes appear to be immune to fact checking because they're so used to lying themselves they think everyone else is.
When that happens I like to chuckle softly and zing 'em with a convenient one-liner... Probably bad manners, but being rude is often in a cabbie's job description.
And Bob, as an ex-smoker and teetotaler, I don't pay two of those taxes you've tossed out in strawman fashion... Come to think of it, I don't own any thoroughbred horses... I pay a lot of gasoline taxes, but then I use the road a lot... Weren't you paying attention to those non-existent WMD's the Bushies tried to scare us with a few years ago? Shoot, you're doing the same thing...
SL.....I stated facts not fiction....as far as Bush...it's his fault if your from the left and he walks on water if your on the right...I'm the vote to get...sorry to disappoint you...
Bush (43 I assume) walks on water among the righties?
Put down the Etch-a-Sketch and go take a cold shower... Then get some patient school kid to teach you how to Google... Learning to think for yourself might take a lot longer, however.
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500160_162-4728399.html
Bush Final Approval Rating: 22 Percent
Okay, memories are mellowing things out for some; I hear he might be at 30 these days...
Hang on to that self-importance though; nobody here believes you're going to change your mind, and hey, did you see how Chris Matthews skewered Rand Paul today?
Chris is the guy on the MSNBC adverts who mentions if you want good government services, you have to pay for them...
Thank you for making my point.....denigration is your only tool....good luck with your life....
How many other major news sources made the right call on the decision? REAL reporters don't JUMP skip and hop to conclusions. ; ]This in fact lets us all know who does factual real reporting. ; ]
Cheers
Lawrence, its not the penalty tax in its current form. It is what it can be made into over time. what does congress like to do more than anything? teabaggers excluded, tax and spend. This little penalty can be turned into a 10% payroll deduction and BE the public (forced) option, buying a subsidized policy from the government. Even a hmo/ppo differential depending on choice would be medicaid or medicare buy in. maxing at 75000 above that income its an auto medicare buy in with lower income earners given the choice to buy up if they want, subsidize by only ever being a 10% deduction, at low incomes eliminating the employee side of the tax. Block grants can be turned into a federal, state, or county hospital system (choice of the state) of salaried doctors, even conjoined to universites with scholarshiped doctors and nurses either starting out their careers in the public system or donating some time to it to keep costs and thier tax rates down while never borrowing another penny to go to med school.
The door is open dude! We can do like angela merkel and regulate the bejesus out of the insurance industry and turn them into 'non profit sickness funds' like in right wing conservative germany. one man's conservativism is another's socialism i guess.
repeal and replaqce>>i am still waiting to hear & see what they are repealing and replace with what, those republicans have no plans!!BIG UPS TO JUSTICE ROBERTS!!
We have the greatest government in the world....they spend money very wisely...they are a fine upstanding group of politicians...they always represent their constitutes.....I'm happy to turn 50% of my money and 100% of my freedom of choice over to them... :) Have a great day!
My advice to you, Bobbie, if you're paying 50% taxes, is to get yourself a new accountant and a new financial adviser...
And pay attention to some of what is said here; Bush put two wars on the country's credit cards, and the result was the same inflation we saw after Vietnam in the mid-1970's... I know. I was struggling then, and I'm still struggling...
Difference is back then I was a mostly miserable Republican, and these days I'm a mostly happy Democrat... And I haven't changed my views all that much.
Yeah....I really didn't think I would have to explain this to you.....everyone else must have got it.....State Tax, Federal Tax, Local Tax, Consumption Tax...and so on....I'll send a memo to you with a detailed explanation of my next post....Thanks again,
Right... And as I said, as non-smoker and non-drinker, I don't pay those taxes... Same with the horse tax (or the nudity tax here; apologies to my friends for the visual on that one). Lessee, I quit duck hunting years ago as well; no RV...
Man, get off the cross. We need the wood..
Show me one tax that has never been collected....If the IRS is doing the auditing for the health care I guarantee that the $2,000 in the third year will be deducted from any refunds.....While President Bush was in office our health care went up $25 every two weeks...in the last 3 years it has went up $50.00 every two weeks and our deductible has been increased...those are the facts. This is happening to me now.....
It wasn't until my second stint at grad school--I took a sabbatical when conventional wisdom held it was important to get a teaching job before finishing one's Masters--that I "learned" the essential element of politics and governing was "policy." A social worker type who was also a conscientious government bureaucrat taught me that truth.
Before then--and I started out as a political science major who ran terrified to the humanities after a year with some mostly old post WW-II fogies who didn't understand that principle either--I was wrapped up in the notion the legislative branch fashioned a law, the executive branch was charged with implementing and enforcing it, and the judicial branch existed as a final arbiter of conflicts.
Congress makes a law, say one aimed at promoting reading skills in elementary students (just to pick a non-controversial example; nobody is agin' that goal except maybe the Texas Board of Education). The policy makers in the Department of Education determine the programs (like Head Start), how they're administered, oversights, etc. If "judicial review" occurs, and the policies survive, they become "fixed law."
Easy enough, right Lawrence (and Evan)? So this one is going to come down to policy and how it is implemented; the Court laid down some guidelines, and they will ultimately determine the legality of the final outcome. The legislators are free to tinker with it, as is the executive branch in laying out the design of the programs administering it.
And now for the history students out there: The utter horror of the Bush 43 Administration was the extent to which "policy became an instrument of politics." The scandal involving Alberto Gonzalez was one example; in that one, "non-partisan appointments" were ignored in favor of "loyalists," and predictably, we started to see the polarization we have today; it makes for excellent drama for the commentators and pundits, but it ain't good government. I note also that large numbers of reputable scientists in various fields repeatedly signed letters of protest about the 43 Administration's use of "policy" as a tool to effect their own agendas (well, the agendas of their financial backers, anyway).
I hope you all are paying attention. There will be an exam on this subject over the next four years.
That's the "back stage" operation that Karl Rove's "Wedge Issues" are smokescreens for; they serve to manipulate the democratic processes with manufactured "talking points," and the reason the FAUX crowd can play so fast and loose with the truth is what they're presenting has essentially nothing to do with the agenda they're attempting to put into operation.
Does this mean that the Employer Mandate is also constitutional, where taxing employers with 50 or more employees, if they do not offer their employees a health care plan, with a fee?
(Anybody out there, but desperate Republican leaders, think that a company with 50 or more employees could ‘not’ afford to pay ‘something’ towards their employees health care, or a better wage to help employees contribute to their own? Is there any employees out there who want to start a save-my-bosses-profit-group and make it bigger at the expense of your own?)
I asked this before on another 'rewrite' segment, but will ask again here. Lawrence mentioned (several times) of the IRS 'flaws' of collection. Can you provide the chapter/verse in the law. A link to thomas.gov and a page number would be nice.
TIA
While I 'believe' the blog, my conservative friends don't. We need more 'down and dirty' facts :-)
H.R. 3590 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Section 5000A(2)(g):
That's not what Roberts is saying. What is saying, I think is more simple (albeit perhaps more slippery) than that: You have a choice:
(1) buy insurance
(2) pay higher taxes.
There is nothing unconstitutional about having you pay higher taxes. In this case the government has given you a way to pay LOWER taxes--buy insurance. The fact that you can be penalized for not paying taxes you owe, Roberts is saying, isn't a penalty for not buying insurance. You have every right not to buy insurance, and won't be penalized for it. But by choosing your tax bill, you then of course have to PAY that tax bill.
Hey Greg. Thanks for the comment, sir! I wish it was as simple as that, but I think the issue is this: the Supreme Court can't redraft the legislation it deems constitutional. The tax/penalty for not buying health insurance is still subject to all the statutes of the Affordable Care Act - two of which being the waiver of prosecution and the limitation on liens and levies. Roberts even draws attention to this in the footnote (C11) on page 44 of his opinion:
Unfortunately, I think things are still murky on this.
Two great things come out of the Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Health Care Act:
1. Orwell is alive! To wit, a tax is not a tax unless it needs to be called a tax to make it constitutional.
2. When MSNBC's guys totally control the government, they can pass a law that requires everyone to watch only MSNBC on TV or pay a tax so the Constitution is not violated.
Is this a great country or what!
I've detailed this sort of logical fallacy before; it's called the "Ritual Sacrifice of a Strawman." Briefly, head down to the thrift store for some old clothes; fill 'em with straw, us a pillow case for a head, and paint a face on it...
Douse your creation with something flammable like gasoline, apply a match and proclaim victory for the forces of enlightenment...
I'll translate that one because some newbies probably aren't real strong on abstract thinking. Practitioners routinely distort something--like insisting buying insurance amounts to a tax; what Roberts said was the government can tax you if you don't buy insurance--and then incinerate their creation and claim they've won the argument...
As for fact checker's gobblegook in #2, well, that one just amounts to elementary "paranoia feeding"; same thing they did with WMD's... Keep the people scared and they won't have to see how miserable they've become or how much inflation has eaten of their income... (See Welch, Robert: John Birth Society; Koch Brothers' daddy's guru)
Next...
You guys who are singing the praises of the Constitution and the Founding Fathers need to study up on George Washington and "The Whiskey Rebellion."
Ooops. An apology is in order. I have poor eyesight (really) and it was just now that I realized your moniker is SL Cabbie, not ST Cabbie. Sorry!!
SL is just his abrievation for "Sorry Loser!", fact checker. No need to be sorry about anything with this clown.
GRANDPA! GRANDPA! (loud sound of horn honking and screech of tires).
I told you not to jaywalk when you're stepping out of a bar...
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/martin-bashir/47984723/#47984723
A report this afternoon could throw the "Fast and Furious" investigation upside down.
Republican lawmakers are whipping up the country into a psychotic frenzy with reports that are patently false.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/fortune_fast_and_furious_gun_walking.php
One day ahead of a House vote to find Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, a six month investigation by Fortune magazine found that Arizona-based agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives never purposefully allowed guns to “walk” during Operation Fast and Furious.
No doubt the reporter for Fortune was on George Soros' payroll...
Okay, sorry FC, I didn't see that apology on my moniker before I stuck the shot in down below. Be careful though, and don't be like Grandpa and bring a cap pistol to a light saber duel...
Oh, and Grandpa, I see they didn't let Zimmerman out on bail...
I see, so you're saying that Fortune Magazine reporters had access to the Justice Department's documentation so we don't need Congress to look into this matter?
And wasn't that the same bald faced lie that the Justice Department tried to pan off for 10 months on the House Committee on Investigations doing their duly charged oversight duties, Cab Driver?
You really need to quit molesting those strawman arguments, Fuzzy...
The reporters for Fortune interviewed the ATF officers on the street, and the whistle blower was an obvious drama mama--er llama who concocted the story and fed it to Grassley and Issa...
In journalism they call that a "single source" story, and there's a reason first year students are taught to avoid them at all costs.
And alas, you're not going to like the one-liner I just cooked up for you above...
Remember a certain Deputy FBI Director that did some whistle blowing using a "deep throated" expulsion of secret laden air back in the 70s, Cab Driver? That was all about coverup, stonewalling, and misused executive privilege...seems some folks might have learned a lesson about that, and gotton the word out early, gotten all the word out clearly and totally, and gotten it over with an eye to not going down that road again. Of course, if they have something that needs covering up until after the election (such as White House awaremness and/or involvement in the planning of this sorry episode), then maybe they think its worth the headaches and heartaches?
It's being said that the only difference between Watergate and Fast and Furious as far as plnning and execution and coverups go is that this scandal has a body count!
No, the difference is that Nixon and Mitchell were guilty as hell (remember the tape with Nixon chuckling and saying something like, "Just don't bug someone without telling me next time, John." And there's no John Dean in this one, only the hayseed Charles Grassley
Too, Obama and Holder are innocent (even Issa said there was no evidence, and he then proceeded with his witch hunt), and this one didn't have anything to do with a presidential election until the New McCarthyites decided on their grandstand theatrics and found some gullible suckers to draw into their paranoid drama.
And responsible journalists are saying the difference between this one and Watergate is that Woodward and Berstein are sane, sober sorts--history has vindicated them--and the FAUX newswhores are getting their marching orders from the NRA and shills like you.
My, testy aren't we? As I was sober in the 70s and never have not been sober, I think I can judge for myslelf from a wide variety of sources...I've watched that naive leftist reporter from Fortune magazine peddle her wares of fiction writing, trying to make us believe under 18 year old kids could buy up to 50 AK-47s and get them into the hands of gun runners in Arizona. Smells much like the very campaign that this Fast and Furious was designed to accomplish: get anti-semit automatic firearm laws called for at the Federal level, the same government that has a hardon for the state of Arizona in the first place. So they sent her some cooperative provocateurs posing as ATF agents armed with copies of "unrealeaseable e-mails and other documents" so she could make the case for them in her hysterics! LOL! And you fell for that?
It appears that St, Cabbie has absolutely no sense of humor and is unaware of the inevitable unintended consequences of just about every deed of this magnitude. He also seems to read a great deal into other people's words that aren't there.
There exist, apparently, two "separate realities" on the notion of what constitutes humor... Of course if I were in my headlights, I probably wouldn't see the humor, either.
Rush Humbaugh® thinks he's funny, too, with stuff like "Barack the Magic Negro" and other utterances, like that smear of that young woman last winter... (loud sound effects of a mad scramble for the Etch-a-Sketches)
As for that "St. Cabbie" please... there are plenty around here who call themselves saints, but I've never met one who meets those standards, including myself... Some nice folks and other sorts, but that's all... And honest, I'm a pro at tucking drunks back into bed while giving minimal offense. But only when I'm getting paid...
I did detect a bit of irony and sarcasm in your post, most of it doubtless unintentional with that presumption you're engaged in "fact checking." In fact, if this site featured Orwellian characters, you'd make a perfect Squealer.
What wasn't in your words was any semblance of critical thinking... You're better off going back and reviewing Aesop before learning more complicated allegories (see Grapes, Sour).
1. There are a lot more than just two separate realities about most anything.
2. I don't listen to Rush so I have no idea what he thinks is funny.
3, Fact checker etc. was the name assigned to me by this website. I had nothing to do with it.
2. I called you St. Cabbie because that's the name used on your postings.
4. It appears you believe folks who don't totally agree with you lack critical thought.
5. Irony is considered by many to be the basis for great humor. Don't you watch Rachel Maddow?
5. Let's end this by each of us declaring ourselves the "winner" despite the fact that neither of us has a corner on truth.
Uh, How about I drive you to the optometrist? I won't even ask for the fare up front...
Salt Lake City is my home town. I push a taxi here. Hence... You can click on my avatar and there's a giggle there with the Utah map as well...
The letters are also the initials of my favorite writer, this guy named Samuel Langhorn Clemens. I hope you've heard of him. He knew a bit about humor...
I'm fine with people who disagree with me so long as they present it in forthright fashion, are aware of possible strengths of opposing views, and don't molest strawmen or toss out ad hominems willy-nilly. Otherwise they're fair game, and I always let them throw the first punch. And I never hit below the belt. I use a surgeon's scalpel down there instead... And finally, per Daniel Patrick Moynihan, you're allowed your own opinions, just not your own fabricated facts.
Like that nonsense that this site named you "fact checker." I'll grant it doubtless stuck the numbers in there (well, Newsvine or Facebook's software did), but there's no way you didn't type that one in by yourself.
Finally, as for Rachel, I watch her regularly (alas, more so since Al Gore divorced Keith Olbermann); four hours after I e-mailed her show last March about Romney's financial co-chairman, Frank Vandersloot, she ran a feature--unannounced--about the Salon article on the network marketing mogul's heavy-handed slap downs of media reports that reflected unfavorably on him and Melaleuca. I'm not certain I had a hand in that one, but it was awfully coincidental. You can Google the article up; scary stuff, seriously...
You are a bit more open-minded than Grandpa Fuzz, however. I've pitched at least three dozen shutout innings against him, and he's insisting he's still in second place in the standings, and I'm next to last.
The "nonsense" is not nonsense. So I guess if you don't like the facts, you deny them.
My eye problem is not something an optometrist can fix.
Good bye.
Here is what the decision to clear this omnibus bill of goods that the Democrat Party majority foisted on us in 2009 and 2010 and are already chumping at the bit to get to putting in the add on legislations: The IRS now has access to every citizens Medical Records, can inquire of your physicians or clinics/hospitals and pharmacies as to your payments for provision of medical care, and use the information for assessing penalties in the guize of a tax if they don't believe you've purchased the government required insurance package.
And while the current legislation calls for a 2% of income penalty (to a max of $2,100) to an individual tax payer, if they find reason that the tax payer has not reported accurately on their status as being insured by the government approved health care policy of the government's choice to meet your individual health care need after medical records and usuage reviews, they can double that penalty (to a maximum of $4,200).
And charge you interest, and fine you further for any number of myriad reasons, some still yet to be developed by regulations to be written.
The CBO now estimates that this bill will cost $2.5 trillion, much of it borrowed monies, to enact from 2014 to 2023. And there is that $500 billion being shifted from Medicare, and another $800 billion in estimated taxes that will be required to be levyied, 75% of those taxes being paid by taxpayers with less than $200,000 in annual income (another Obama promise broken!).
No wonder Nancy Pelosi announced the arrival on the floor of the "Un"affordable Care Act as "a bill that would have to be passed before we could read what was in it"!
Let's go Tea Partying, Folks! Big Time!
Up to 15,000 new IRS agents coming on board inorder to enforce this law on businesses and individuals. Geeze Louise!
And now we are met with the strange state of the Supreme Court's decisions that states we can't ask people to prove their citizenship or their right to work and receive social benefits in our country and the INS wont pursue or take action against those in violation of our immigration laws, but we will insist everyone show the Federal Government evidence of having purchased the Federal Government dictated proper Health Insurance at penalty of Internal Reveue agents harrasements.
We are down the rabbit hole here folks!
Hold on a second, the shared responsibility payment has only to do with businesses, not individuals.
Is the Last Word equating section 5000A(g)(2) with some kind of loophole that waives the IRS? Yes they are. But they are referring to "declining to make the shared responsibility payment."
A shared responsibility payment is an employer-employee relationship. prestinaegele.com/faq-what-are-employer-share-responsibility-assessable-payments-under-the-ppaca
So the IRS won't criminalize businesses who fail to follow the health care law:
"(2) Special rules
Notwithstanding any other provision of law—
(A) Waiver of criminal penalties
In the case of any failure by a taxpayer to timely pay any penalty imposed by this section, such taxpayer shall not be subject to any criminal prosecution or penalty with respect to such failure.
(B) Limitations on liens and levies
The Secretary shall not—
(i) file notice of lien with respect to any property of a taxpayer by reason of any failure to pay the penalty imposed by this section, or
(ii) levy on any such property with respect to such failure."
law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/5000A
So I'm not sure what this means for individuals like myself who are college students when they turn 26- I won't have an employer yet, so I think the IRS can still come after me.