General Discussion

backscatter712

(26,355 posts) Wed Mar 28, 2012, 03:32 PM Mar 2012

Could ACA be considered constitutional if the mandate was reframed as a tax deduction?

Make it a tax deduction. Buy health insurance, and claim a deduction on your 1040. Otherwise, you're paying the default tax rate.

It's pretty accepted practice for Congress and the IRS to create deductions on virtually anything they want.

Seems to me to be a lot more justifiable than framing it as a penalty. Personally, I think the ACA's perfectly constitutional, just based on the Commerce clause, but if the mandate was made into a tax deduction, perhaps we could have avoided this fight.

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Could ACA be considered constitutional if the mandate was reframed as a tax deduction? (Original Post) backscatter712 Mar 2012 OP

I was thinking the same thing. n/t Blue Meany Mar 2012 #1

Probably. If the administration and Congressional Democrats would just have called this a tax from kelly1mm Mar 2012 #2

Blue Meany

(1,947 posts)

1. I was thinking the same thing. n/t

Reply to backscatter712 (Original post)

Wed Mar 28, 2012, 03:39 PM

Mar 2012

kelly1mm

(4,734 posts)

2. Probably. If the administration and Congressional Democrats would just have called this a tax from

Reply to backscatter712 (Original post)

Wed Mar 28, 2012, 04:08 PM

Mar 2012

the begining, the ACA would be on much firmer legal footing as congress has almost unlimited taxing power. Unfortunately, the administration was dead set against calling this a tax as to not violate the President's "No new taxes on those making less than $250,000" pledge that we are here, watching the ACA possibly being tossed out, based on a politically motivated choice not to bite the bullet and call a tax a tax.

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