Ensign receives handwritten confirmation - Live Pulse - POLITICO.com: "Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) received a handwritten note Thursday from Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance.
Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead. He signed it 'Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold.'"
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2 comments:
There seems to be a lot of bullying associated with this administration. Don't answer questions on the American Community Survey - that's a $5,000 fine - don't buy insurance? That will be $25,0000. And of course, there is always the threat of jail as well.
For all who wanted change - you got it - sort of. Now you have the Feds acting and behaving like a great big huge HOA.
Politifact rates this one "barely true": http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/sep/29/patients-first/conservative-group-says-youll-be-imprisoned-not-ha/
The "true" part is that if you willfully refuse to pay your taxes, it's barely possible that you could go to jail. Not many people do wind up in jail for willfully defrauding the government (in 2007, less than 0.2 percent of audits resulted in jail time), and it's even less likely that someone would end up in jail for a debt as small as $1900.
Most of the debts result in a fine, which, for a $1900 debt, would be more like $1425, not $25k.
There are those who consider income tax itself to be unconstitutional. They still have to pay their taxes or face potential fines/jail time. They probably don't like the enforcement part of the tax code either.
Whenever we decide as a country to tell people, "Hey, if you think something is unconstitutional, just don't do it and you'll get a free pass," let me know. I could save a lot of money that way, too.
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