It is not a tax. It is not a penalty. It is a

[rateyes]

tax credit.

I just saw a paragraph on Facebook suggesting that the Obama campaign start framing the ACA mandate as an opportunity for a tax credit. If you have insurance you get the credit. If you do not purchase it you do not get the tax credit.

People are familiar with this idea. Buy solar panels, get a tax credit. Buy a hybrid automobile, get a tax credit. Buy health insurance you get the credit.

I think it is a good idea. What say you?

[Schema Thing]

1. pentax

[elleng]

2. Sounds interesting,

but may be too complex for many to understand, too burdensome for IRS to implement, and surely won't shut the haters up.

[rateyes]

4. I am just talking about framing.

[valerief]

3. It's a dessert topping. It's a floor wax. nt

[rateyes]

5. LOL

smartass.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. It's a breath mint. It's a candy mint.

[high density]

6. There's no sense to debate this

The people concerned about the tax/penalty language are the same ones who believe in death panels and all this other nonsense from Fox News. There is no getting through to them with facts and information.

[LittleGirl]

7. hybrid tax credits ended

sadly. Didn't get one in 2010 or 2011. but you're right! good framing.

[rateyes]

9. Framing

That's all I'm talking about. Makes sense to me.

[2on2u]

10. Do you get extra credit if you expire early?? Say 10% for each year you leave before

checkout time?? And what if you expire and almost never use your health insurance benefits.... will your family get a percentage back from what you paid in?? It's only fair that if you don't use it your family will get some sort of rebate thingy.

[Igel]

11. But it's not a tax credit.

If so, it's a highly unusual one.

You don't get it if you don't make enough. Instead, you just don't have a need to claim one.

There are who classes of people who aren't subject to the credit. If it's a credit, why are they denied due process?

There's no "solar cell penalty" because it wasn't foreseen to be one. The child tax credit is a credit: Most people would have the kid anyway. The health insurance "tax" is explicitly there in order to drive people towards showing the desired behavior.

It's like tobacco taxes and other sin taxes: You pay it only if you commit the sin. Those too poor are given dispensations. (Heck, so many people frame the health care debate in moralistic terms that I'm surprised it's not referred to as a sin tax: The sin of not doing one's social obligation of contributing to the health care of others, while putting others at risk of supporting you in case of catastrophic illness or injury.)