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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>>…</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> <b>On Behalf Of </b>John Clark<br><b><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><div><div><div><div><div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:23.1pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>>></span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>>…</span> If you buy something new that is very expensive and is not in the budget<span style='color:#1F497D'>…</span><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><p class=MsoNormal>><span style='color:#1F497D'>></span> <span style='color:#1F497D'>…</span>Then you scale it back, eliminate it <o:p></o:p></p></blockquote><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>It's too late for that, YOU ALREADY BOUGHT IT!<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>On the contrary John, for this is what the whole debate is all about. The house has never bought the ACA opt-out penalty as a tax. Reasoning: the ACA originated in the Senate and was passed into law on 30 March 2010, without a single minority party vote. Among the objections by the minority party was that there is no authority in the constitution for requiring citizens to buy health insurance, or anything else for that matter. I have read it carefully and I see not one word in there about the federal government having the authority to require a purchase of any kind. The question started working its way to the Supreme Court. In November 2010, the minority party became the majority of the legislature and gained control of the house of representatives. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>In June 2012, the Supreme Court handed down a decision confirming what the new majority party had said all along, that there is no constitutional authority for the individual mandate. (John have you found anything in there which suggests to the contrary? Where?) However, they confirmed that the individual mandate is legal if it is declared a tax, and the fed can levy a tax under the 16<sup>th</sup> amendment. So now all that remained was to send an identical bill back to the house for ratification. However, by that time the house was controlled by the party which was in the minority party when the bill originated in the Senate. Under article 1 section 7 clause 1 of the constitution, all taxation and spending bills must originate in the house. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The bill was never sent back down to the house, for the house had already voted to repeal or dismantle ObamaCare over twenty times between taking the house and the SCOTUS decision. They never bought it as a tax. We haven’t already bought this John. This is a tax bill which does not conform to the requirements of article 1 section 7 clause 1. We have never already bought it and we are not already buying it now.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>If you are now struggling with the temptation to write in all caps that the US is obligated to pay for that which we already bought, keep repeating the real truth: the ACA is a tax, a tax must originate in the house, the house has never agreed to it as a tax. We have not already bought the ACA. We still are not already buying it. We are already rejecting it, repeatedly.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>This constitutional clause is not merely a technicality for it has enormous implications, besides the obvious one that collecting a tax penalty for opting out is illegal. Declaring the opt-out penalty a tax would place the collection authority with the IRS. Note that there is an opt-out tax, however the IRS does not have the authority to collect it. They can (and will) withhold the penalty for opt-out if you have a refund coming, but it is easy to adjust tax withholdings to make sure you do not have a tax refund, or if so only a small one, single digit dollars. Then one would owe the IRS the opt-out penalty, if the IRS had the authority to bill you for that. But it does not. Reason: tax bills must originate in the house. This one did not, so they didn’t legally authorize the IRS to collect that which had not yet been declared a tax.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>So. There is a theoretical opt-out tax penalty, but it is actually a voluntary contribution. The IRS cannot punish a citizen for not paying a tax which it lacks the authority to collect.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>All this being said, all is not lost, for even Tea Party people would agree there are socially redeeming qualities. The next step would be to extend a temporary exemption for everyone to O-care until the legislature passes a constitutional amendment specifically granting the federal government the authority to collect a penalty for opting out. If we get that, then we can stop calling the ACA opt-out a tax, and the whole scheme is not subject to repeated rejection by the house.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Another suggestion is that we use the same constitutional authority granted by the constitution to raise and provision an army, then give us hapless draftees the option to not serve in the military if we buy health insurance. Buying one’s way out of the army was used during the civil war. The draft has been repeatedly challenged and found constitutional. Then it wouldn’t be repeatedly pounded on by the house of representatives, under whose purview is all taxation, and has voted to repeal the ACA 46 times in just the past two years. So draft all Americans, both genders, between the ages of 18 and 65 inclusive, with the provision that we can buy our way out yearly with a valid approved health insurance policy. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Simple.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>government spending must match revenue</b><o:p></o:p></p></blockquote><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>No Spike, government expenditures don't have to match revenue<span style='color:#1F497D'>…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#1F497D'>In the long run, it must. Otherwise we end up where we are.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>usually they don't<span style='color:#1F497D'>…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#1F497D'>Tragically so.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span> and very often they shouldn't<span style='color:#1F497D'>…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#1F497D'>On the contrary, they should very often, nearly always. Times of war are temporary exceptions. But it must be a real war, not the phony stuff our president tried to start in Syria a few weeks ago.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span> But to avoid disaster governments had better pay their bills. Always. John K Clark<span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>The ACA isn’t our bill yet. It isn’t our bill until either a constitutional amendment is passed allowing the government to require citizens to purchase health insurance, or an opt-out tax is originated in the house in accordance with constitutional requirements.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Now, isn’t that simple John?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>