Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said July 4 that the fee imposed on those who don’t buy health insurance is a “tax,” not a penalty.
Mitt Romney
The shift, less than a week after the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same assessment regarding the federal health reform law, makes his new view on the individual mandate consistent with other Republican leaders and Democrats. It also positions Romney to say that President Barack Obama broke his vow not to raise taxes with health reform in what is likely a major political theme heading toward the November presidential election.
In an interview with CBS News’ Jan Crawford in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling June 28, Romney contradicted a key political advisor, who continued to call it a penalty.
“Well, the Supreme Court has the final word. And their final word is that Obamacare is a tax,” Romney said. “So it’s a tax. They decided it was constitutional. So it is a tax and it’s constitutional. That’s the final word. That’s what it is.”
The day of the ruling, Romney renewed his promise that if he was elected president in November, his first official act would be to repeal the health reform law, President Barack Obama’s signature accomplishment in his first term.
Asked if he had changed his mind on what the health reform tax question, Romney replied, “Well, I said that I agreed with the dissent, and the dissent made it very clear that they felt it was unconstitutional. But the dissent lost. It’s in the minority. And so now the Supreme Court has spoken.”
The Supreme Court ruling, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, said Congress has the power to impose the tax on those who don’t buy health insurance, as required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, starting in January 2014. However, Congress cannot impose a penalty.
By taxing people who do not buy policies – a 1% to 4% levy on 2014 income, to be included in their 2014 federal income taxes – the fiscal sustainability of the health reform law is maintained. Had no requirement been imposed on all to buy coverage, then, according to insurance industry executives, the pool of people whose payments into the system would pay for care for mostly sick people would not be sufficient.
Romney also clarified how the Massachusetts’ health reform, which he steered in 2006, is different from federal health reform. He said states have the power to impose penalties that the federal government does not.
“The chief justice said that states have what’s known as police power,” Romney told CBS News. ”And states can implement penalties and mandates and so forth under their constitutions, which is what Massachusetts did. But the federal government does not have those powers. And therefore, for the Supreme Court to reach the conclusion it did, that the law was constitutional, they had to find it was a tax and they did. And therefore, Obamacare’s a tax. Like it or not, it’s a tax.”
