Administration: Sometimes The Democrats' Health Care Law Is A Tax, Sometimes It Isn't

In a Department of Justice (DOJ) legal brief in the case of the “State of Florida v. The Department of Health and Human Services,” the Obama Administration argues the individual mandate (requiring Americans to buy a government-approved insurance plan even if they can’t afford it) is a constitutional exercise of Congress’s power to collect taxes.

But recently, when asked at a Ways and Means Committee hearing examining the impact of the Democrats’ health care law on the economy and the nation’s employers, an Administration Cabinet official gave a different answer – not only about whether the individual mandate was a tax, but the witness went so far as to challenge whether the 10 percent indoor tanning tax was actually a tax.

When it comes to the Democrats’ health care law, the Administration can’t have it both ways. Saying one thing in court and another thing to the American people just won’t work.

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