Tax Law Doesn't Apply to Federal Health Reform All Sides Argue

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Published 02/10/2012 - 11:15 a.m. CDT

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Medpagetoday.com REPORTS HERE that "the Obama administration and the plaintiffs suing the federal government over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) at least see eye-to-eye on one thing: A federal tax law shouldn't bar the Supreme Court from ruling on the case."

"Lawyers for 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business -- the plaintiffs in the case -- and lawyers for the Obama administration filed briefs … with the high court stating their positions on the Anti-Injunction Act. That act prohibits anyone from suing the federal government over a tax before the tax goes into effect. Under the ACA, nearly everyone will have to have health insurance starting in 2014 or else pay a penalty. But since 2014 is still two years away, the court is considering whether it even has the jurisdiction to decide the case before then."

"The issue is one of the questions the Supreme Court will decide when it takes up the case at the end of March. The other more high-profile issues deal with whether the government can mandate that everyone have health insurance and whether forcing states to expand Medicaid is an overreach of federal power."

"In three separate briefs filed Monday, (one from the Department of Justice; one from the 26 states; and one from the NFIB and several individuals involved in the lawsuits) all parties agreed that the Anti-Injunction Act does not apply to the healthcare reform law."

"That penalty is not a tax, lawyers for all sides argued."

"The penalty defined in the ACA would only be considered a "tax" if uninsured individuals could pay the tax and then lawfully be allowed to go without insurance, lawyers for the NFIB argued. But under the law, people without insurance would pay the fee and they'd still be in violation of the law, which places the fee into the "penalty" category, the NFIB lawyers argued."

"The ACA is even written in a way that would bar the federal government from using its usual tax evader enforcement tools -- including criminal prosecution and putting a lien on an individual's property -- to collect the ACA penalty from those who don't pay it, according to the briefs."

"Moreover, the ACA isn't a bill that was designed to collect a tax, all of the lawyers argued."

"Lawyers for the NFIB and the states argued in their respective briefs that Congress knew it wasn't imposing a tax when it passed the healthcare reform law in March 2010. Congress' purpose in the law was not to raise revenues from penalties, but to provide near-universal insurance coverage, the lawyers argued."

"If the Supreme Court does decide that the Anti-Injunction Act applies to the law, then the rest of the plaintiffs' claims would have to be tossed out, the Obama administration lawyers argued. The penalty is the only punishment for not obtaining insurance and, without it, the mandate wouldn't work, they said. They have previously argued that if the mandate is struck down, part of the healthcare reform law could still function."

"The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the Affordable Care Act on March 27, 28, and 29."

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