Even though President Obama’s recently Supreme Court-upheld health care law imposes a whole host of ‘penalties‘ that most definitively are not taxes, or something, it’s just ‘easiest‘ for the IRS to takeover the administration of said penalties. So of course, the IRS is rolling forward with plans to begin implementing the health care law, which in turn requires that they hire thousands of new employees and rewrite a bunch of rules and regulations. Oh, joy (emphasis mine):
The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold most of President Barack Obama’s health care law will come home to roost for most taxpayers in about 2 1/2 years, when they’ll have to start providing proof on their tax returns that they have health insurance. …
Under the law, the IRS will provide tax breaks and incentives to help pay for health insurance and impose penalties on some people who don’t buy coverage and on some businesses that don’t offer it to employees.
The changes will require new regulations, forms and publications, new computer programs and a big new outreach program to explain it all to taxpayers and tax professionals. Businesses that don’t claim an exemption will have to prove they offer health insurance to employees.
The health care law “includes the largest set of tax law changes in more than 20 years,” according to the Treasury inspector general who oversees the IRS. The agency will have to hire thousands of workers to manage it…
But it’s not a tax. Yeah, okay, got it.
The IRS might be getting a head start with implementing ObamaCare, but during his weekly radio address, Maine Governor Paul LePage jumped on the Republican-governor bandwagon of states refusing to even start preparing for the Medicaid expansion, etcetera, before they absolutely must.
Thanks Curt for your posts and helping to keep things straight!!
These guys don’t realize what the Gestapo actually did—but it makes good copy and propaganda.