The government forces you to buy LOTS of things far worse than broccoli

[KurtNYC]

Would you like to buy a ten year war on Afghanistan (while OBL lives in Pakistan)? Doesn't matter -- you did.

Some other things we are forced by the US Government to buy:
- toxic waste Superfund site clean ups
- bailouts for gambling losses by financial institutions
- empty farm fields and unmilked cows
- $3 mil for research on the game World of Warcraft (UC Irvine)
- plenty of others

If the SCOTUS wants to take the position that the government cannot force taxpayers to buy things they don't want to buy then they should be consistent because if I wasn't paying for endless war, bank bailouts and subsidies to large corporations I would have plenty for health care.

[badtoworse]

1. They force you to pay taxes which THEY use to fund those things

You aren't actually buying anything personally. There is no basis of comparison.

[KurtNYC]

14. so we have Single Payer warfare

Single payer FDIC, etc, etc.

[slackmaster]

2. Everything in your list is paid from income taxes

Nobody is required to work, therefore nobody is required to pay income taxes.

[Blue Meany]

3. In most places, though, people are required by law to wear clothes,

and these need to purchased.

[slackmaster]

5. They're required to wear clothes in public

You can always stay in your parents' basement and post on DU in the buff.

[Johonny]

9. most parents require that you wear clothes

parents requirements of you tend to be much worse than the government. See "Fight For Your Right" by Beastie Boys.

[slackmaster]

13. My mom made me eat Brussels sprouts when I was a little kid

Lima beans, too.

[BlueState]

4. You are exempt from paying the penalty on the insurance mandate if...

...your income is below the tax threshold. So by your logic nobody is required to either buy insurance or
pay the penalty.

[phleshdef]

8. You really didn't think that one through did you?

No one without a certain sized income well above the poverty level is required to buy health insurance/pay surtax. Anyone who isn't paying income taxes is very likely to also qualify for Medicaid or they are elder and receiving Medicare.

Regardless, the semantics of income taxes vs surtax penalties, yadda, yadda are irrelevant in practical terms. As far as our day to day lives go, we either have to pay money out of our salaries/wages for something or we don't. And when that money goes to the government for a purpose, we are paying for that purpose, period. At least the mandate penalty goes towards paying for one's own self as an emergency care liability and it takes care of people who wait until they are sick to actually get insurance. At least THAT money has something to do with one's own personal needs, unlike the wasteful blackhole of defense and foreign war spending.

[CBGLuthier]

6. Not me. Only people who pay TAXES are subsidizing those things.

Suckers.

[tkmorris]

7. And you don't pay taxes I take it?

[abelenkpe]

11. You're saying you are proud to not pay taxes?

Or you're just kidding?

[abelenkpe]

10. Parents are forced to buy child safety seats

in order to transport their new baby home from the hospital. They purchase these seats from a private company in order to comply with the law. It's a matter of safety and responsibility.

My father, after retiring from the navy worked in the insurance business. He was always surprised how difficult it was to get a young family, even those who were well off, to purchase health insurance. My pop is a life long republican but he knows the only way to get people to buy health insurance is to mandate it. He will also say that the only way to bring prices down is to have single payer.

[Romulox]

12. If there was an on-point example, this wouldn't be in front of the SCOTUS--

and for an unprecedented amount of oral arguments, no less.

[TheKentuckian]

15. No one is forced to purchase any of those things, the government buys them out of the general fund

which is funded by tax dollars. We are now talking about being forced to be individually responsible for commerce on a post-tax basis.

You are arguing that if Congress so elects they may dictate your post-tax income be spent to the last cent on chicken wire, whiskey, flea powder, truffles, financial planning, stock from a company, or anything.

No money for food or housing? Too bad, we need you to buy concrete for a project vital to interstate commerce.

The government is empowered to tax to pay for its expenses and programs, after tax money isn't a part of that, if the government needs more funds then taxes may be raised as Congress sees fit and that the people will bear.

It is one thing to view all government income as a single thing regardless of what it is supposed to fund or its source and another to conflate the Federal Budget and the money in our pockets and accounts.

The Supreme Court is not saying that tax dollars collected cannot be spent on healthcare, guns, butter, or anything else under the sun nor has anyone ever demanded you pay for a bomb or a farm subsidy out of your pocket.

[obey]

16. The argument is over an INDIVIDUAL mandate

not taxation for a public good or project.

Can the government order an individual to purchase a product or service from a private company, i.e. health ins. from a private corporation.