It Depends on what the Definition of "Tax" is....

You may recall that when challenged about the health insurance mandate that was at the cornerstone of Obamacare, the President said that this mandate "is absolutely not a tax increase."

Well guess what... now it seems they say it is a tax.

In their request to dismiss the lawsuit filed by 20 states and the National Federation of Independent Business challenging Obamacare, the Justice Department today reversed course on just exactly what the nature of the insurance mandate really is.

From a statement by Karen Harned, executive director of NFIB Small Business Legal Center:

"In their court document filed today, the government brazenly seeks to hide behind a 200-year-old law - the so-called 'Anti-Injunction Act' - that prevents courts from determining the constitutionality of taxes. 

"This is an about face from what is laid out in the law. In the text of the healthcare law, the findings for passing an individual mandate specifically rely on the effects of individuals on the national economy and interstate commerce. Nowhere in the findings is the mandate referred to as a tax.  The Justice Department is now calling it a tax to try and convince the court not to rule on whether or not Congress exceeded their authority under the Commerce Clause by legislating that all citizens must purchase private health insurance or face a penalty."