Obamacare: A “Taxing” Game of Hide and Seek

The Obamacare Individual Mandate, is it a tax or isn’t it? President Obama emphatically denied, prior to Obamacare’s passage into law, that it’s a tax. He even got a bit testy during a TV interview when a dictionary definition of “taxes” was read to him which made his mandate sure sound like a tax.[1] However, when the constitutionality of this health care law was argued before the Supreme Court, Obama’s own Solicitor General, Donald Verrilli, said it could be looked at as a tax (especially if it helped him win in court, I suppose).[2]

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that Obamacare is a tax, the Democrats who supported The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), are now calling it a penalty – for not obeying the law.[3]

So where does this leave us in the midst of all of this semantic bickering? Playing a very “taxing” game of Hide and Seek (politicians hide the taxes and then hope we won’t find them).

Our federal government, with the help of a Supreme Court that seems to have forgotten about our Constitution, just inflicted another law full of “hidden” taxes and is now hoping you and I won’t notice – especially during this election year.

Embedded in Obamacare are at least 20 new taxes, most of them set to hit American families and small businesses, the very backbone of our country.[4] [5] To make matters worse Obamacare is being implemented during one of the worst economic times since the Great Depression.

Surtaxes on investment income, increases in Medicare payroll taxes, excise taxes on medical devices (think braces, wheel chairs, etc.) and caps on Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) contributions[6] are just a few areas targeted to bring in over $500 billion needed to help pay for this program. Some estimates say Obamacare could bring in as much as $1 trillion in taxes.[7]

Considering the number of taxes we already are forced to pay, both hidden and seen, Obamacare is one that is likely to financially break us as a nation. We are already close to being $16 trillion in debt and it’s recently been discovered there is a $17 trillion spending gap in Obamacare.[8]

Have you ever taken the time to research or make a list of all of the taxes paid in America? Many taxes such as income, sales and property are imposed on the majority of us and are easily seen on our paystubs, receipts or property tax bills. They may be plain to see but they are painful to pay, as their sums are substantial. (I often dream about what I could use that money for if the government didn’t confiscate it).

But what about the “hidden” taxes, can you find them? I did an online search and was shocked to find a list of over 200 taxes paid by Americans![9] Okay in all fairness some were labeled as fees, but lets face it, it’s just that semantics game again. Either way it’s our money, and the government (federal, state and local) is forcefully taking it. This list does not even include the extremely concealed taxes that come in the form of higher priced goods and services. After all, every business is taxed as well and they ultimately pass those taxes onto the consumer in the form of higher prices.

After researching this list of taxes, everything from taxing rainwater runoff to marriage license taxes to death taxes, I’m wondering what’s next? Will they tax us for the air we breathe and for being alive? Oh wait, they just did! Obamacare! If you are a living, breathing human, you must now get health insurance or pay a tax… or is it a penalty? Either way, the Supreme Court ruling just opened the door to allow the Federal Government to force you to buy anything and if you don’t obey, you’ll pay.

Regardless of the label, enough of our hard earned money has gone into politician’s coffers. Too much of our money has been spent irresponsibly and used to buy votes. Milton Friedman, a brilliant economist, once said,

“One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.”[10]

I couldn’t agree more as we only have to look at the gaping, unfunded hole of Social Security to know just what will happen to all of the tax money collected for Obamacare.[11] There may have been good intentions when Social Security was implemented but the reality is it became a slush fund for Washington Inc. and there is no reason to think things will be run any differently with our healthcare money.

Are you tired of this “taxing” game? I know I am, as we are losing at every turn. So let’s change the rules of the game. The only answer is to get government out of our lives and wallets as much as possible, and allow real free market solutions to be implemented for issues such as healthcare. Find out how by reading the book, The Golden Rules of Economics: The Real Way Out of America’s Economic Crisis and then by voting for candidates who will follow through and enact these real “game winning” solutions.