My view on whether Baucus' mandate is a tax or not

[rmp yellow]

President Obama and George Stephonopolous recently disagreed on whether the individual mandate in Baucus' plan is a "tax."

I referred to the IRS glossary of terms, which defines "taxes" as follows:

taxes
Required payments of money to governments that are used to provide public goods and services for the benefit of the community as a whole.

Let's see:

Is the payment "required"? Yes, for the target group (those who do not get insurance, with some exceptions).
Is it used to provide public goods or services? Yes (Note: This health care system wouldn't consist of "goods," but neither does Social Security or Medicare, yet we pay a taxes for them.)
Is it for the benefit of the community as a whole? Yes.

That sounds like a tax to me.

[derby378]

1. It's a fucking tax

And one designed to destroy the middle class, too. Kill it, kill it, kill it dead.

[DJ13]

2. It should be a tax tacked onto the income tax, not a separate obligation

Above a set amount the more people make the more they should be paying in a health care tax so the poor and middle class doesnt end up in worse shape than they already are.

[Vincardog]

3. for the benefit of the community as a whole NOT TAX it is designed to enrich the parasitic insurance

companies not for the benefit of the community as a whole. It is not a TAX it is extortion