Mandate, Says Waxman -- Tax, Says the Supreme Court

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/306839-1

"ObamaCare is a Tax. . .Mandate. . .A Mandate enforced by a tax. . ."

(See First Four minutes of Interview)
Congressman Waxman calls the core portion of ObamaCare a  mandate, yet he refuses to acknowledge that the Supreme Court has handed the President a Pyrrhic victory. Obama must sell the law as a tax, even though he spent 18 months refusing to sell his Patient Protection and Affordable Care tax as anything but.

Waxman attempts to sell the positives of ObamaCare, that it spreads the cost of healthcare costs by requiring everyone to buy health insurance.

Waxman's claim that no matter what the Supreme Court's ruling how the justices reasoned, ObamaCare is now constitutional. However, the key element, its unpopularity, has not changed, and Mr. Waxman cannot escape the uphill battle that he and his party will face in trying to sell all over again a monstrosity of legislation which almost eviscerated the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.


Republicans and independent will have a field day in commenting  that ObamaCare is a tax.
Even when the Congressman soft-pedals the issue, suggesting that the financial penalty is negligible, the interviewers catch him off guard, and rightfully so, when they identity the tax will cost the American people something like10 billion dollars! And the Congressman refused to acknowledge the specific burden which will weigh on individual taxpayers

There are other taxes in this bill, as well. . .
A tax on medical devices, for example. Waxman presents this tax as if it's not big deal. Really? So, hospitals will not only have to ration care, while begging for money from the federal government to cover the cost of patients who go to the emergency rooms without their own insurance, but now they will be hard pressed to purchase new equipment, whose costs will skyrocket because of these taxes!

And then there is the tax on tanning salons. No one with any sense will conclude that these ancillary taxes will cover the rising costs of health care as more people will most likely forgo buying any health insurance -- because insurers are discontinuing coverage altogether or raising premiums.
The taxes in ObamaCare will also hit high income earners. Small businesses will be savaged by these costs.

Congressman Waxman must assume that either no one was watching this C-Span interview, or  that he can get away with the most inane and unjustifiable arguments. No matter how much he attempted to dodge the "T" word (T as in TAX), the two interviewers refused to let the issue lie, and neither will the opposition candidate and his supporters in Waxman's home district.