IRS To “Reach Out” To Those In Non-Compliance With Obamacare Mandate

It’s no longer a fine or tax or fee. It’s reaching out

(Forbes) As many as 20 million Americans soon will be getting a letter from the Internal Revenue Service “suggesting” they sign up for ObamaCare insurance.

Getting a letter from the IRS can be a threatening and nerve-racking experience; it seldom is seen as a suggestion and more of a threat. But at President Obama’s direction, the IRS is “reaching out” to people who paid the tax penalty for not buying mandatory health insurance or who claimed an exemption in hopes of “attracting” more people to sign up for ObamaCare insurance. The government is particularly interested in compliance from healthy young people.

It probably won’t help Hillary if those young people receive the letters prior to them casting a vote. It won’t necessarily mean a vote for Trump, but, they are already increasingly turning to Gary Johnson and Jill Stein.

Congress is not happy. “We strongly object to any action by the Administration to improperly use sensitive taxpayer information to identify and harass individuals who have rejected the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) by choosing to pay a tax rather than be forced into a health care plan they don’t need and don’t want,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Majority Whip Steve Scalise, and Ways & Means Chairman Kevin Brady said in a letter today to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

They warned the IRS about the use of “protected taxpayer information” and sent Koskinen a list of sharp questions demanding more details about how the IRS plans to “reach out directly to individuals” and how the Department of Health and Human Services will be involved in encouraging “their compliance with the individual mandate.”

The question here is whether this it is even legal

Is it legal for the IRS to do this? The leaders warn the IRS that “As you are aware, the confidentiality of tax returns and return information is protected by law.” The “sole permitted use of this confidential data” is to determine whether people are eligible for ACA subsidies.

Here’s from a 2015 article

For most unpaid taxes, there are a variety of ways that the IRS can recoup their money. But the text of the ACA is very clear in stating that taxpayers who don’t pay their ACA penalty are not subject to levies, liens, or criminal prosecution.

The only way that the IRS can collect the ACA penalty is if you pay it voluntarily, or if you’re owed a refund. In the latter case, the IRS deducts the penalty from your refund. Seventy-five percent of tax filers receive a refund, and the average refund was about $2,700 in 2013.

Pretty much every article I’ve perused says the same thing: their only enforcement mechanism is to deduct the penalty from any tax return refund. Not that the IRS has seemingly cared about legalities, especially since 2009. And they have never been shy when it comes to harassing citizens.

Meanwhile, liberal and moderate Dems (not that there are many of the latter left) are feuding over adding a full public, ie government run, option, now that Ocare is collapsing in exactly the manner that was predicted.

More: Funny headline from The Hill: Dems to GOP: Help us fix ObamaCare. The article is exactly what you think, just missing a quite from a Republican noting that this whole mess is on Democrats, and Republicans have zero obligation to fix this mess. Oh, and there’s this

But many Democratic senators want to act much more ambitiously, through the legislative process. There are now 33 senators who have signed on to a resolution from Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) calling for adding a government-run insurer, or “public option,” to ObamaCare.

President Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton have also called for versions of the public option in order to increase competition.

Nothing says competition like putting our health care and health insurance in the hands of the government.

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9 Responses to “IRS To “Reach Out” To Those In Non-Compliance With Obamacare Mandate”

  1. Liam Thomas says:

    thats what the IRS does….they bully Americans into paying their fair share.

    It is okay for a Federal agency whose members belong to a union to bully people and DEMAND THEY OBEY THE LAW……

    This will certainly be a reminder of the Consequences the left paid by passing the ACA in the middle of the night by changing the Senate rules to do so.

    So shoot out those letters……quickly……it is after all only 20 million potential democratic voters who will start to realize what a pandora’s box they supported when they pulled that handle for a (D)

    Just more of Obama/HILLARY FATIGUE to deal with by the American People…especially those YOUNG, HEALTHY people who tend to vote (D),

  2. drowningpuppies says:

    Instead maybe the IRS could investigate this CLinton crony…

    http://www.thecitizensaudit.com/2016/09/19/money-laundering-david-brock/

    Nah..

  3. Jeffery says:

    Forbes is usually reasonably reliable, if somewhat conservatively biased, but they repeat an oft repeated myth:

    The government is particularly interested in compliance from healthy young people.

    No. The government (and every insurer) is interested in healthy customers regardless of age. In fact, healthy OLDER customers are even more attractive because they are charged more.

    Clearly the answer is to enact a solid single payer system for the masses. We’ll get there eventually over the obstructionism of the right.

  4. Jeffery says:

    Think for a second what the Trump Foundation was accomplishing.

    Rich cronies of Trump would donate to his Foundation (Trump had not donated since 2008!), take a nice tax deduction (IRS, Hello?), and Trump could use the money to settle lawsuits, bribe politicians and buy portraits of himself!

    What a deal!

    Others have gone to jail for what Trump did. But the Teflon Don is safe.

  5. drowningpuppies says:

    Little miss gold puss be lying again.

  6. Hank_M says:

    Talking about any Trump corruption this year is a non-issue as long as hillary remains standing.

    Hillary Clinton’s campaign is stealing from her poorest supporters by purposefully and repeatedly overcharging them after they make what’s supposed to be a one-time small donation through her official campaign website.

    The New York Times reported in 2007 that Clinton’s first presidential campaign had to refund and subtract hundreds of thousands of dollars from its first-quarter total often because donors’ credit cards were charged twice. Additionally, it was reported that Clinton had to refund a stunning $2.8 million in donations, three times more than the $900K President Barack Obama’s campaign refunded.

  7. drowningpuppies says:

    Think for a second, Mitt Romney tied a dog to the top of his car and paid no income taxes for 10 Years!

    — little miss goldpuss who’s more retarded than john

  8. david7134 says:

    The clear path to better health care is for the government to get out of it. The further they continue their take over the worse things will be.

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