Originally posted by gribbler
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EK: And how does that fall on something like the Ryan plan, where the government says, look, we’ll lower your tax liability by $2,500 if you purchase insurance from private insurers? That seems like the same penalty, the same power, just one step removed.
RB: Most of the justices did not seem all that sympathetic to that argument. Just because the government does have the power to do x, doesn’t mean they have the power to do y, even if y has the same effect as x. There’s no constitutional principle like that. And by the way, if they have a commerce power to mandate you buy things, then under existing law and financial law, they could put you in jail. Every time you give up a tax subsidy, all you lose is the $5,000 benefit you didn’t get. It can’t be enforced through imprisonment. And that’s a big difference.
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