Notice to SCOTUS: The Mandate Isn’t Going To Be Enforced Anyway
[T]he law counts on most of the scofflaws turning themselves in. If you do not have insurance and think you owe the tax, then you will be asked to check a box to that effect on your tax return. If you choose to ignore the mandate, you might also choose not to check the box. But even those who do confess that they do not have insurance may not be liable for the new tax. Illegal aliens, Native Americans, prisoners, those who are without insurance for less than 3 months, those who do not have to file an income tax return, anyone who faces a hardship or cannot find affordable coverage, and others are all exempt.
Joseph Antos and Michael R. Strain at The Health Care Blog. Full post worth reading.
For the majority of people the mandate isn’t really a mandate.
Christian Scientists and the Amish will be exempt.
Who knows if this will apply to health care mandate, but not telling truth on tax for can have serious consequences. It seems to me that this is not covered in the ObamaCare statute that makes the penalty for not having insurance not a criminal matter. You’re still lying on your return and ObamaCare does not exempt people who do that.
8.01 STATUTORY LANGUAGE: 26 U.S.C. § 7201
§7201. Attempt to evade or defeat tax
Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this title or the payment thereof shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined* not more than $100,000 ($500,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.
I think they will eventually find a way to crack down. The federal government/Justice Dept/IRS has up’d their pursuit of tax evaders in many ways. 10-15 years from now, if they feel that too many people are reporting that they have insurance when they really don’t, the government will (attempt) to find a way to collect.
So sad that we’ve allowed this monstrosity of a law to be created.
Resident aliens both qualify for medicare and are exempt. Wow.
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