WH Chief of Staff: It Doesn’t Matter That We Argued Health Care Reform Is a Tax in Court — It’s Not a Tax
- Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:07pm by
Erica Ritz
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(Photo: Screen Shot/Fox)
The White House has found itself in quite a bind following the Supreme Court‘s ruling last Thursday that the president’s health care bill is, in reality, an enormous tax.
The president has not only spent close to four years arguing that it is not a tax– even slamming reporters who suggested otherwise– but more generally promised not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 per year.
(Related: WSJ Economist: Brunt of ‘Obamacare’ Costs Will Be Shouldered By Those Making Under $120K)
Now, example after example indicates that the administration is still trying to convince the American public that “Obamacare” is not a tax, despite the court’s unambiguous ruling that it is only constitutional as one.
On “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace, White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew tried to argue the case in such defiance of previous administration statements that Wallace was forced to say: “If it walks, looks, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.”
Hot Air describes the clip:
“Wallace strings Lew along beautifully for almost three minutes, allowing Lew to argue multiple times that ObamaCare isn’t a tax, wasn’t passed as a tax, and was never intended to be a tax, before playing a recording of the Obama administration’s Solicitor General arguing to the Supreme Court that, by golly, ObamaCare can and should be considered a tax.”
So how does Lew respond when forced to argue the exact opposite of what his party has been saying for years?
“One of the things about our judicial system is that you can make arguments to the court on multiple grounds,” he began. “That’s what [Solicitor General Don Verilli] was doing. It was set up, and it was not called a tax…”
In other words, Hot Air summarizes: “Lew basically tells Wallace that, hey, lawyers make lots of arguments in court, but that doesn’t make them true!”
Watch the whole clip, via Hot Air, below (skip to 2:45 if you only want to watch the relevant statements, without the set-up):
The clip opens with an RNC ad of President Obama reiterating in multiple speeches that taxes will not be raised on the middle class during his administration, before Wallace asks: “Didn’t the president break that promise?”
Lew responds that the Court didn’t technically call the bill a tax, but that Congress has many powers, one of which is taxation. “There’s a Commerce Clause, there’s taxing powers, and that [health care reform was] constitutional,” Lew said of the decision.
“I can’t let you go there” Wallace interrupts. “[The Supreme Court] specifically said that it is not constitutional under the Commerce Clause; they said that it is constitutional under the tax.”
The pair then discusses the figures of how the middle class will be forced to bear billions of dollars in tax increases in the coming years, before Lew repeats the often-heard line that if you like your doctor or your insurance, you can keep them, as though the enormous overhaul will not affect business for insurance companies or doctors whatsoever.
“Obamacare not a tax even though our own lawyers said it was, or something,” Hot Air said of the clip, mocking the fact that each answer from the administration seems contradictory.
But more than that– the administration is seemingly admitting that it will sell the American people falsehoods if they believe the ends justify the means. Lew does not appear to have any problems with the admission that they passed an enormous bill, from his perspective, on a false premise — and that’s not exactly comforting.
(H/T: Gateway Pundit)
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Comments (112)
Maxim Crux
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:50pmDoesn’t matter what you call it traitor. We are not going to take the cowardly act and pay it. I would sooner pay a doctor with gold or silver than give it to the Nazi regime and insurance companies
Report Post »Gold Coin & Economic News
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:56pmThese people are traitors! How do they expect anyone to believe anything they say when it is obvious they spend all of their time figuring out ways to deceive us and then when they’re trapped by their own lies, they never admit anything. This is PATHETIC! They are such liars!
Report Post »http://www.isthatbaloney.com/scotus-rules-health-insurance-only-a-tax-if-you-dont-buy-it/
afishfarted
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 1:02pmSooooooo
Report Post »this guy just once again proves my point about socialists–even when confronted with the truth, they must lie to promote thier agenda. And–accoding to his statements—the administration committed purjury
AvengerK
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 1:02pmThis is the tap dance Obama and his cronies will be doing all the way to November. It’s up to Romney, the RNC and the superpacs to keep hammering away that it’s a tax not a penalty and it affects Americans earning under $250K. It’s already having traction, people are realizing Obama’s just hit them with the biggest tax hike in US history. The point has to be made over and over though, the media will softball Obama on this and allow his cronies to spin it without too much questioning.
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 1:10pmI watched this interview by the way…Lew stuck rigidly to the talking points..”it’s a penalty, “free riders”, “affects just one percent of Americans”, Romney did it in MA”. Wallace let him read them off then nailed Lew with “that’s not what the supreme court said sir” after Lew tried to spin it that the court was nebulous about whether it’s a tax or not. Lew stammered and “uh, uh, uh’d” his way around the response with a completely incoherent answer. Romney, the RNC and the superpacs must now keep the pressure on Obama and his cronies. The more it’s mentioned that the middle class now has a new tax, the more it will stick.
Report Post »ReddenBlack
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 1:25pmQuestion?
What does Barack Obama have in common with Tim Tebow?
Answer: 3 things, the both believe in Jesus Christ, they both love America, and all they both do is WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN!!!!
LOL, I absolutely love that you ignorant, racist, foolish, teee-baggggers just lose and lose and lose again.
I read this site everyday, and everyday I see comments like, “I keep praying america will wake up” “I pray everyday for the future” “I pray god will show us the way”
Hows that praying working out for ya? LOL
NEWSFLASH: There is no god. There never was and never will be. You can disagree with Obama’s policies all you want. But he is an American, he was born here and he is as american as you.
AND YOU CAN”T STAND IT!!! you can’t stand that a black man with a funny name gets to actually get what he wants in america! how dare he!!!
LOL, tell you what
You guys go ahead and keep praying,
Report Post »me, barack, and occupy wall street will just be over here winning and changing the world.
AvengerK
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 1:42pmREDDENBLACK…you seem to be pasting this unhinged rant on every board you can find. Creepy.
Report Post »amyb73
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 1:43pmKeep changing your world. It has nothing to do with mine. Your reality will evaporate in November.
Report Post »HKS
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 1:43pmSo in essence what he is saying is they lie about everything, and that would be correct. When it comes to the lie, this bunch is the uncontested champion. Watch their mouth, if it moves, you got it.
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 2:01pmhaha Our resident TROLL appears to be stuttering?
Report Post »dmerwin
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 2:02pmAnything to pass it. Liars and damn liars.
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 2:05pmJack Lew is part of the one world Jewish kibbutz, commune. As is Axelrod, Emanuel, Bernstein, Plouffe, Sunstein, Kagan, Orszag, Summers, Sutphen, Steinberg, Ross, Klain, Sher, Rudman, Gensler, Feinstein, Lynn, Shapiro, Sperling, Feinberg, Borrin… Bernanke.
All 1.7% of our population.
Report Post »4truth2all
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 4:10pmA false witness will not go unpunished,
and he who pours out lies will perish.
A fool’s mouth is his undoing,
Report Post »and his lips are a snare to his soul.
JRook
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 4:11pm“Thursday that the president’s health care bill is, in reality, an enormous tax” By any definition not an enormous tax and reasonable to offset the higher costs to Medicare and Medicaid from subsidizing people without health insurance who either under pay or don’t pay their hospital bills. And it is clearly no more of a tax that the increase in government fees for licenses, participation in sports, band and other activities in schools. Or increased excise taxes for gas, cigarettes, alcohol etc. Point is Republicans have become cheap movie or art critics. They can tell you everything bad about policy, but offer little if nothing substantively. Eliminating the minimum wage and driving wages down further won’t create more jobs and more than reducing taxes on the wealthy. Demand is what drives the need for more products or services. Reducing wages hurts demand. The wealthy like mutual funds, union pension funds, etc merely invest in companies so they can hire workers to meet rising demand. The two things causing the longer term weakness in our economy are the continued reduction in real wages and the concentration of wealth.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 4:40pmIf you LIE ALL THE TIME… WORDS DO NOT MATTER!
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 4:57pmLOL..yeah that’s it JROOK…deny, deny , deny. The SCOTUS said all it can be is a tax JROOK..not anything else. The biggest tax hike on the middle class in US history no less.
Report Post »freedoc
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 5:31pm@Jrook.
Honestly, I don’t have time to give you Economics 101, but nearly everything you said is false. But to give just one example:
“Lowering the minimum wage won‘t increase jobs’. Wrong. Demonstrably wrong on every level. Practically, employers would be far more likely to hire someone at the ‘prevailing’ market labor cost. Being forced to pay someone a specific wage, above what the market could command for their skills reduces their desire to hire. Further, study after study shows minimum wage standards reduce unemployment.
As far as a solution, which you say is not offered by Republicans, the answer is obvious, and repeated over and over( you just don’t care to listen or understand):
Its called Freedom. The Free market. THis is the ‘tool’, the system, that could and would markedly reduce unemployment if allowed to operate.
NOT a mixed economy. NOT corporatism. NOT syndicalism. Free market, where labor and capital value is based on the aggregate demand schedules of all participants.
Its referred to as ‘Capitalism’.
And don’t give me the Obama line, ‘its proven to not work’. Nonsense.
Or the Karl Marx, ‘evolution of economic systems’, which was absolutely refuted, trounced a century ago, by economists and philosophers across Europe and the World.
Its people like you, who haven’t read, don’t understand( or can’t, sadly) these logical arguments, then you fall back on propaganda, and the notion that, ‘they don’t have a so
Report Post »hallkbrdz
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 11:32pmWe need to march on DC and throw these $#@$$ out on their tails.
It’s time to overthrow our Govt – it does not work for us – it works against us!
Report Post »Americanius
Posted on July 3, 2012 at 12:02pmHey Jacbo, guess those knee pads you are wearing depends on what the meaning of “is” is right?
Report Post »Now that Roberts has set the precedent I guess it is raining and your’re not really ******* down my leg.
Tax Revolt
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:49pmDid the WH chief of liars just come out and admit they committed perjury in front of the supreme court? The mandate is a tax. The SCOTUS says so in order for it to be constitutional. The sooner the socialist dims and communist progs (or is it the other way), accept this, the sooner we can repeal it due to taxation with misrepresentation, and implement true HC reform. Things like TORT reform, open insurance competition across state lines, open insurance acceptance across state lines, quit providing free non-emergency health care to illegal citizens. Start billing the home countries of the illegals that receive emergency care but fail to pay. There are many more things that can be fixed so the burden is not on the tax payer nor those that are being responsible citizens.
Report Post »drattastic
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:48pmOne more tax that everyone seems to be forgetting is the so called “Cadillac ins plan tax”. They have already started putting the cost of this health care on the income side of pay stubs in preparation of taxing us. I haven’t heard one word about this ,my healthcare ins. falls into this category maybe yours does too. Last time I checked I wasn’t rich ,even by democrat free loader standards yet my taxes are going up . Just one more lie by the most criminal administration in history.
Report Post »Tax Revolt
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 1:03pmMy company has been doing this since obama was elected. It is called a virtual pay check. Every year we get one. It comes with a summary of benefits. According to the company I make a little over 65K a year. However, my gross is only about 48K, and my take home is around 24k. I do not receive any tax credits at the end of the year, and only receive about 500 back on a tax return. It feels like I am the one getting screwed.
Report Post »TheBurningTruth
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 5:12pmMy wife being self-employed, I have little sympathy for you. You might not actually SEE this money, but it’s real nonetheless. We have to buy health insurance on our own, and we do NOT get to deduct it from our income. Nobody buys it for us. Health benefits should either be tax deductible for EVERYONE or for NO ONE. Before this health care mess is all said and done, Barry will (if re-elected) find a way to tax those benefits.
For those that might remember, Blue-Dress Bill Clinton during his first year passed a tax increase on “the rich”. To define income, he imputed income to homeowners based on the fact that they generated “effective income” from owning a house (comparing rents vs. mortgage, mortgage deductions and property value increases). This method of pumping up the “effective income” has been around a long time and is a Progressive Liberal’s wet-dream.
Report Post »GoodStuff
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:47pmIt’s a TAX! And it represents the largest tax increase in US history…tell that to your leftist friends, if ya got em.
This means we only need Romney+50 (Senators) to repeal this beast.
Romney+50
Report Post »Romney+50
Romney+50
cbrown
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 1:10pmToday morning a top Romney Adviser said: “Mandate is not a tax but a penalty”. I hope this clarifies everything for all of us.
Again, according to CBO the penalty will be paid by 1% (free-riders who can afford to buy insurance but choose not to buy it but take advantage of ER, when needed). I and you pay for their irresponsible behavior.
Report Post »SquidVetOhio
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 4:30pmYea, because the CBO has been accurate about everything they predict….. Check that, about NOTHING they predict.
Of all the Blaze trolls of the world, you’re the Charlie Browniest!
Report Post »lynnissmart
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:46pmBafoon talking, it’s a bufoon, its not a bufon, it’s a bufoon talking!!!! Finally, it’s a Lew bafoon!
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:46pmTo the gist of the matter, it is a TAX, having been declared such by the SCOTUS.
Here is the crux of the argument; Obama is desperate to hold onto the open door he has now been given by the five radical acitivists of the SCOTUS; and now needs to somehow claim that a tax is not a tax, even though it is a tax, so he can impose more taxation for anything he wishes.
We are seeing the unwravelling of Obamas mental reality in sharper detail with each passing day; as the web of lies and illusion and deceipt he has woven collapses inward, so does his connection with reality, such as tenituous as it had been at any one time.
Now he will become more and more unpredictable as his narcissism demands a grab for total control and power; or the destruction of all that he cannot control
Report Post »whatthecrazy
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:43pmGod im so confused,I have stupid going in one ear and coming out the other and my brain is totally bumphuckled.Why do these idiots not have a VACANCY sign stamped on thier foreheads?We can call this whatever but the fact is they are stealing money that WE worked for and giving it to lazy sobs that do nothing to contribute to this county.
Report Post »ddajs
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:43pmIf lawyers argue things that are not true, does this mean that the lied to the court. If so they should be arrested. you know that that is going to happen. As I have said oh numerous post, America is screwed.
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:40pmSo the LIED before the Supreme Court? IF it’s NOT a tax, then it is UNCONSTITUTIONAL.They can not have it both ways.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:43pmAll too true.
Report Post »chazmo
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 10:18pmYES!!!! John Roberts should IMMEDIATELY rescind the decision.
Report Post »You say it’s not a Tax Mr. President. Ok, then it’s NOT constitutional. So the court finds the WHOLE bill struck down!!!!
Frodo RinosBane
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:38pmIt’s now officially, OBAMATAX!! Deal with it.
Report Post »allensmithee789
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:35pmWar is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. — George Orwell’s 1984 is here in ObamaCARE.
Report Post »rickinpa
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:34pmSpeaking of taxes Obama released his 2011 return and he’s still not paying anywhere the 35% he thinks would be fair for the “rich” to pay. I know he didn’t technically make 1 mil in 2011, but all his expenses are paid for by the tax payer so it would be nice to see him pay his “FAIR” share.
Report Post »“April 13 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, paid a 20.5 percent federal tax rate on $789,674 in adjusted gross income for 2011, according to tax returns released today by the White House. Hans Nichols and Peter Cook report on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness With Margaret Brennan.” (Source: Bloomberg) “
Mike N
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:34pmIt is a tax, you flat-headed buffoon . . . If I have to pay it, and I get nothing back for it because it gets spread around to others who don’t pay in, it is a tax . . . either that, or it’s socialism.
Call it what you want . . . it’s un-American.
Report Post »gbfreak
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:31pm“But more than that– the administration is seemingly admitting that it will sell the American people falsehoods if they believe the ends justify the means. Lew does not appear to have any problems with the admission that they passed an enormous bill, from his perspective, on a false premise — and that’s not exactly comforting”
Straight from the SOCIALIST handbook!
Report Post »I Believe In American Exceptionalism
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:28pmYou summed up the Obama Administration perfectly – the ends justify the means.
Words can’t express the depths of my anger, outrage and resolve. How about you?
Report Post »Unbelievable
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:26pmSo lying to the Supreme Court isn’t against the law…. Oh, that‘s right it’s ok because the ends jusifies the means.
mmm mmm mmm Barack Hussein Obama mmm mmm mmm
Report Post »showmerancher
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:26pmBush lied? I’ve yet to hear Obama (or anyone in his administration for that matter), tell the truth!
Report Post »biohazard23
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:24pmPants on fire…..
Report Post »pier1020
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:22pmWorthless human trash….lie after lie after lie. Lew, if you can‘t say aything that doesn’t attract flies, shut your mouth and go polish your SS boots.
Report Post »Tri-ox
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:21pmWell, if it is not a TAX, then obama’s jack-booted IRS storm troopers cannot force people to pay it.
Report Post »johnjamison
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:25pmexactly
Report Post »johnjamison
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:27pmIf it is a tax then all those “mandate” waivers are illegal and Unconstitutional as no one can opt out of a tax unless they are written out in it’s inception.
Report Post »Dougral Supports Israel
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:18pmObama administration: No honesty, no integrity, no standards, no right to respect from people who actually value those qualities.
Report Post »highcarry
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 5:45pmnot just him. tar and feather the lot of them. both sides. ALL of them.and when thats done, start on state and local.All of them.and replace them with people that are told ” you will lose everything if you don’t do what you are elected to do.” but i don’t think that the people in this country will ever rise to that. even when they finally get that that’s the ONLY thing that will restore this country. stick a fork in it.
Report Post »AquaBuddha
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:18pmName another administration that has lied like this one.
Report Post »HKS
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:25pmAll of them together couldn’t touch this bunch.
Report Post »Mike N
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:40pmThe National Socialist German Workers‘ Party of the 1930’s was nearly identical in goals and makeup.
Report Post »Tax Revolt
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:56pmAll of them. It is just that this administration is the most transparent at it. I guess we now know what obama meant by all of his “this administrations will be the most transparent” speeches.
Report Post »cbrown
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 2:44pmRomney Adviser said: “Mandate is not a tax but a penalty”. Either Romney is lying or both Obama and Romney are lying.
Report Post »Farmhand
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 8:23pm@cbrown. Your conclusion is incorrect. Obama is arguing that it is both not a tax and constitutional, which is contradictory under the supreme court ruling. Essentially Obama is trying to have it both ways. Romney is apparently arguing that it is not a tax which makes it unconstitutional.
Report Post »rickc34
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:17pmWhy do they lie so much. Tell the truth and get it over with. It is a tax created by the Democrats in Congress and the Senate . Obama lied and has been caught in his lie and continues to lie.
Report Post »HKS
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:23pmSocialist freeloaders do that, It’s the you owe me generation”.
Report Post »BeingThere
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:13pmLiar!!!! Arrest the Obama administration immediately!!!
Report Post »CatB
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:19pmObamacare = OBAMATAX Say it LONG AND LOUD!!!
OMG 2012
Report Post »highcarry
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 5:50pmand what? keep the rest of the crooks?.
Report Post »NHwinter
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:10pmLew, keep saying it isn’t a tax and Justice Roberts might reverse his decision.
Report Post »NHwinter
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:17pmSo, its ok to lie to the Supreme Court? Why does that not surprise me, all they do is lie!
Report Post »CatB
Posted on July 2, 2012 at 12:55pmRoberts needs to resign! Or be impeached .. he failed to uphold his oath and the Constitution by REWRITING the act.
Report Post »