Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the court’s four liberals to uphold the constitutionality of Obamacare: “No one would doubt that this law imposed a tax, and was within Congress’s power to tax,” he wrote. “That conclusion should not change simply because Congress used the word ‘penalty’ to describe the payment.”
Republican Senator Mike Lee was not a member of Congress when the Democrats’ health care bill was passed but he says he wouldn’t have called it a tax: “I have been telling my constituents, I’ve been telling everyone since then, that it now is regarded as a tax. That’s the only way it can survive legally now is to call it a tax.”
A spokesman for Lee said the senator considers the financial penalty to be a fine, but calling it a tax puts the president in a “pickle.”
“If it’s a tax, then he’s raising taxes on people. If it’s not a tax, then it’s unconstitutional,” said Lee’s spokesman. “The president was unequivocal dozens of times that he would not raise taxes on people making less than $250,000 and this bill, according to [the Congressional Budget Office], will raise taxes on people making less than $250,000.”
In a 2008 campaign speech in Springfield, Mo., then-Sen. Barack Obama said, “If you are a family making less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes go up. Not your capital gains tax, not your payroll tax, not your income tax, no taxes. Your taxes will not go up.”
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