What is a "Tax penalty"?

[The Rabbi]

So is the mandate a tax or a penalty? The gov't can't seem to get it quite straight. I feel sorry for the Solicitor General, throwing himself on his sword for Obama. I guess getting laughed out of the Supreme Court is still some kind of honor.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito led the charge, asking Solicitor General Donald Verrilli: "Today you are arguing that the penalty is not a tax. Tomorrow you are going to be back and you will be arguing that the penalty is a tax."

Tuesday, the court will consider whether an individual mandate is permissible. The opposition will hold that it is an unprecedented act of government overreach, while the Justice Department will counter that it's a routine exercise of Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce.

"The nature of the inquiry that we will conduct tomorrow is different from the nature of the inquiry that we will conduct today," replied Verrilli.

At one point, though, after Verrilli repeatedly referred to the penalty as a "tax," Justice Stephen Breyer jumped in: "Why do you keep saying 'tax'?" he asked. "Tax penalty," corrected Verrilli.

Supreme Court considers: Did health care law challenge come too soon? | The Ticket - Yahoo! News

I thought a tax penalty was something you paid if you hadn't paid enough tax. I guess Obama has a different meaning fo the word is too.

 

[amrchaos]

Taxes, itself, can be considered a penalty.

So are fees. But tax penalty sounds like a superfluous phrase. Why not just tax or Penalty?


OH wait--I see now.

Leftist propaganda!

 

[Conservative]

This thing is going down like the fucking Titanic.

 

[Skull Pilot]

They have to use the term tax penalty because the government cannot fine people for doing nothing but they can tax people whenever and for whatever they want

 

[syrenn]

its all going to be a penalty tax... becasue only some of us will get screwed and have to pay up.