Now You're Streching, George: Even the Baucus Bill Calls the Fine for Not Getting Insured an "Excise Tax"

Promises, promises.

"George, the fact that you looked up Merriam's Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you're stretching a little bit right now," said the president. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have gone to the dictionary to check on the definition….I absolutely reject that notion" that it's a tax increase.

Hmmm.

Well maybe someone should tell that to the author of the bill.

Because, as Politico's Chris Frates points out, it's all right there on page 29 of the bill: "Excise Tax. The consequence for not maintaining insurance would be an excise tax."

To be more specific, if a taxpayer‘s modified adjusted gross income is between 100-300 percent of the federal poverty level, "the excise tax for failing to obtain coverage for an individual in a taxpayer unit (either as a taxpayer or an individual claimed as a dependent) is $750 per year. However, the maximum penalty for the taxpayer unit is $1,500."

There are two issues here: Whether or not this is an acceptable or even sound policy, and whether or not this specifically violates Obama's oft-repeated pledge to not raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 per year, "not a single dime."

Obama wants to talk about the former. He doesn't want to talk about the latter, because there's nothing to talk about: It is a tax, he is violating his supposedly inviolable guarantee.

You lie.

Tax"&bodytext=Promises, promises. "George, the fact that you looked up Merriam's Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you're stretching a little bit right now," said the president. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have gone to the dictionary to check...&topic=world_news"> posted by Ace at 11:22 AM

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