Obama Proposes Nation’s First “Life Tax”

This past weekend on This Week with George Stephanopoulos,  President Barack Obama  attempted to defend what has become known as the Baucus/Obama Health Care Plan.   Much of what  he said was firmly planted in the “nothing new” category however.  Obama has clearly chosen his talking points and is sticking to them.  In the end, they are little more than bromides meant to pacify people who want to believe his rhetoric.  So, I half way listened as he droned on until George, to his credit, asked the President the following question:

There is a lot wrong here, however the thing that really jumped out at me was Obama’s comparison of the proposed health plan penalty to compulsory auto liability insurance.  This is simply nothing but a flat misrepresentation of the truth.  It is clear that the Obama administration plans  to use this comparison as one of their key arguments in justify their case and is tossing it out there to see if we are dumb enough to buy it.  What Obama is really saying here is, “I mean look, you already have to have compulsory auto liability insurance, and no one really thinks that this is a tax or an imposition on their individual freedom, so why on earth would any sane person be opposed to a health care penalty?”   Here is the problem:

First – Compulsory automobile liability insurance is a state issue, not a federal issue. There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution that provides for federal mandatory insurance. Nothing.

Second – In direct contrast to what Obama wants folks to believe, automobile liability insurance is not mandatory.  Not in the least.  The fact is, it is only required if someone wants a driver’s licence.

This is a dramatically different reality than Obama tries to portray in his interview.  In fact, one could infer that the over simplification is so blatant that it amounts to nothing less that a purposeful distortion of the truth.

Let me demonstrate exactly how absurd this comparison is – If we truly were to apply Obama’s health care penalty principle to the auto insurance industry, it would mean that every person would be required to have a driver’s license and approved insurance when they turned 16 years of age. Those who decided that they would not get a license and use public transportation instead, would then be fined an additional sum of money in order to pay their “share” of liability. The case would be made that non-drivers were driving up insurance costs because they would be a “drain” on the liability insurance pool.  Specifically, they could have damage, sue, and get insurance money, but never put anything back into the insurance system themselves.  Put this way, the argument is absolutely absurd.  The thing that troubles me most, is that it is our President attempting to employ this fallacious comparison.

The truth is, for the first time in American history, we have an administration that wants to tax each and every citizen for the privilege of living!  Unlike any other type of compulsory insurance or tax, the only thing one has to do to be subject to this tax is – be born.  The tax will then be collected either through your compulsory government plan payment or your penalty for opting out. It is in essence President Obama’s “Life Tax,”  and if he has his way each one of us will be obligated to pay it for the rest of our lives.

Obama makes his case for this tax penalty on the premise that we all pay a few hundred dollars more in our insurance premiums to compensate for uncovered healthcare.  This fact is true, however, it is also true for every single industry in our free enterprise system. We pay more at the grocery store to compensate for stolen food, but there is no “grocery store tax penalty” for folks who grow their own veggies.  We pay more at the movie theaters to cover the films that tanked and no one went to see (like Terminator 10), but folks who don’t go to the movies do not have to pay a “crappy movie penalty.”  We pay more for life and property insurance to cover fraudulent claims, but there is no “life insurance penalty” for single folks who decide to rent.  Why would we charge a penalty in one area and not all? It is simply –  insane.

In his attempt to use this ridiculous auto insurance analogy, Obama betrays his real intent.  If Obama really wanted to reduce individual health care costs, he could save the average tax payer thousands of dollars annually through tort reform, interstate insurance competition, and health care tax credits. The truth is, he is not interested in saving you or I anything.  He could truly care less. What he wants is a Life Tax.   Once he has it, it will be a mere formality for the government to add other penalties to it as they deem fit.   At first it will be between $900 and $3800 per individual, but it will surely rise as government health care costs go through the roof.   One can safely expect that within just a few years there will be add-on penalties for such items as obesity, smoking, high blood pressure, dangerous jobs, or even old age.  Obama will be taxing us for the privilege of breathing.  But don’t breath too much, or you may have to buy an individual carbon offset…

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