Follow ObamaCare Delays at Your Peril

Despite being “the law of the land”, President Obama is telling a lot of people to ignore ObamaCare; but does that absolve you from following it? The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as ObamaCare, is now in full effect, or it is supposed to be. To avert certain political disaster for the Democratic Party, Obama has issued, as of March 5, 2014, 20 unilateral executive actions to “delay” ObamaCare mandates and taxes. The President has the authority to pardon, but he cannot pre-pardon your crimes, just as a priest cannot pre-absolve your uncommitted sins; and just as a priest cannot change the list of sins, Obama cannot change the taxes you owe or the benefits you must provide. So what could happen if you follow Obama’s “delays” and “wavers” in lieu of the law?

ObamaCare imposes two “mandates” on individuals; the tax for not having an ACA qualified health insurance plan, and the tax for having too good a health insurance plan. The “Cadillac Tax” was originally set for 2013, but the “fix-it” bill changed that to 2018, so no problem there. The individual mandate tax went into effect in 2014. Individuals who are without employer-provided coverage, and not excluded by a myriad of hardships, must purchase a qualifying plan by March 31, 2014, or pay a tax of $95 per dependent adult and $45.5 per child or 1% of adjusted gross income, whichever is higher. One of Obama’s unilateral changes was to allow people to keep their existing, non-qualifying insurance plans, but those who do will still owe the taxes, regardless of what Obama says or leads you to believe. So what might happen if you keep your insurance and forgo your 2014 ObamaCare tax? Regardless of reason, whether you believed Obama or were civilly disobedient, you failed to pay your taxes; however, the ObamaCare tax is special. The IRS can neither criminally prosecute you nor seize your property for refusing to pay the mandate tax, but it can place liens on your property and assess penalties, and the IRS can criminally prosecute you and seize your property for failing to pay the penalties for evading the ObamaCare mandate. There are potentially serious consequences, so if your 2014 tax preparation software omits the ObamaCare tax, complain to the manufacturer. Find software or a preparer that includes the tax, or prepare the forms yourself. If the official IRS forms omit the ObamaCare tax, complain to or sue the IRS, and then figure it out on your own. Whatever you do, determine if you comply, and pay if you do not. Will the IRS seek unpaid ObamaCare taxes? There is a 3 year statute of limitations for the IRS to audit a tax return and assess unpaid taxes; unless, you failed to file and the IRS prepared the return for you, or you filed a fraudulent return. There is a 10 year statute of limitations to demand any back taxes. Assuming that your failure to properly report your non-compliance is not deemed fraud, Obama will be in office for only two of those three years, so his successor will have a full year in which to order the IRS to mass audit and correct everyone’s 2014 tax returns and demand payment. This also assumes that a court fails to rule Obama’s executive order unlawful and fails to order the IRS to assess the penalty. Simply put, the Sword of Ompamocles could be hanging over your head for the next 10 years, or longer, depending on what actions the IRS and courts take. Companies have it even worse. Obama has made numerous misleading changes to the ObamaCare corporate taxes and mandates. Many of these unlawful changes will be reflected in IRS forms, but the taxes are still owed, regardless of what the forms say. The penalties are also worse, as the IRS can seize company assets to pay the back taxes. Because companies have tax experts and lawyers filing their returns, failure to pay the taxes may be considered evasion or fraud. Companies have experts and should know better than to believe Obama and follow obviously unlawful executive actions. Making things worse yet again is that ObamaCare has employee compensation and fairness provisions. Employees have very little recourse if their employer fails to provide an ACA qualifying plan, for which the penalty is a “waived” tax; however, they may be able to sue if their employer fails to provide the required “essential health services,” which Obama “delayed.” Employees can also sue an employer that provides unfair health insurance benefits to its executives. Potentially, employees could sue to obtain a health insurance benefit identical to the best compensation package offered by the company, despite Obama’s “delay” of the equal coverage requirement. Only the law is meaningful to the courts; they care nothing about unlawful executive decrees. If a company pays all of a 100% coverage plan for its executives, then 2014 could turn into an expensive year. ObamaCare is confusing and harmful to our economy and especially the Democratic Party. Rather than allowing the ACA to go into effect as written, placing the Democratic Party in the hot seat, and seeing that pressure force the repeal of the ACA, President Obama attempted to easy the Democrats’ pain. In the process, Obama has further muddied the waters, probably causing even more pain. Following the Allegory of the Chicago Sewer, President Obama is likely unaware that the waters are muddy, and likely believes that he has made things better; but this is a country of laws, not dictates. Heed this warning; woe be to those who follow the delusions of Theos Ompama instead of the law. This applies to a lot more than just ObamaCare. The President cannot pre-pardon or excuse anyone for breaking any law, and no President should ever tell or encourage anyone to break the law, but Obama has done so over two dozen times. The Constitution provides only one recourse for any such President: impeachment, and possible removal from office (impeachment itself sends a strong message). In a telephone town hall, Congressman Roskam (R-IL), the House Majority Chief Deputy Whip, was asked about impeachment and provided the only two reasons for the lack of impeachment. First, Obama’s removal will likely require 67 senators (two thirds present) to agree that his executive orders are unlawful and intolerable. Of the 100 senators likely to be present, approximately 46 of them stood and applauded when Obama in effect declared himself Emperor during his State of The Union Address, leaving 54 to vote “guilty.” The second reason was that Republicans are certain that the Democratic Propaganda Network, humorously called, “the news media,” will recast the impeachment as “racist” or “partisan” and call those who believe in liberty and freedom “extremists,” and generally defame the Republican Party, thus harming the chances of Republicans winning elections and gaining enough Senate seats to remove Obama, or at least control the Senate. Make no mistake. Roskam called Obama’s actions, “barely tolerable,” implying that tolerance, under the current, unfavorable conditions, is running thin. Whether they are “Tea Party” or “establishment”, 100% of Republicans are opposed to tyranny; 80% of Democrats applauded it.