posted April 03, 2010 10:05 AM         

This was the process.

The House passed their version of O'BomberCare. Within the House version the IRS was given the power to fine and file criminal charges plus a huge fine for non compliance.

The Senate passed their version of O'BomberCare December 24, 2009...which contained different provisions...a different bill.

In normal circumstances there would have been a House/Senate conference committee to merge the different bills because there must be only one bill..worded exactly alike..voted on by both the House and Senate to present to the President for his signature.

Then, Scott Brown was elected Senator from Massachusetts and Harry Reid lost the super majority he needed to pass a merged bill from the conference committee.

At that point, the House bill was effectively dead. The only way to proceed with O'BomberCare was for the House to pass the Senate version of the bill verbatim..no changes...and enter "reconciliation" which requires only a simple majority to pass in the Senate.

However, the odious IRS fines, criminal prosecution and $250,000 for non compliance under the House version of O'BomberCare were always in the HOUSE BILL which was dropped because it would have been DOA in the Senate.

As it is right now, the IRS can still fine and the IRS CAN prosecute for non compliance AS A MISDEMEANOR OFFENSE. Misdemeanor offenses carry a sentence up to 11 months and 29 days in jail. The Bill which passed specifies NO CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS.

You need to know what "Penalties" means in IRS lingo. If you file a tax return late...or if a mistake is found on your return and you own the IRS more than you paid or...you didn't pay, then, the IRS may and will add a penalty of 25% to what you previously owed. The "penalty" is not the filing of a criminal or misdemeanor prosecution. It's an additional amount of money the IRS adds to your tax bill...as a "Penalty".

So katatonic, you can wipe the smugness off your face because the people you cited as being wrong...or spreading false information..including me WERE RIGHT. The detestable provisions for fines and criminal prosecutions with sentences up to 5 years and a $250,000 fine were always in the House version of O'BomberCare.

posted April 03, 2010 11:22 AM         

i don't need you to explain what IRS penalties mean, and i don't know about your experiences with that "body" but there are rules and regulations preventing them from ruining you. if you CAN'T pay the fine it won't even apply, since you will be in the "subsidy" range...if you can it is well worth the price of staying outside a system you don't care for, and the option has been handed to you on a silver platter.

i have asked you over and over again to present some actual quotes from the bill to back up your claims and have not seen ONE. care to share something FACTUAL and not your notably slanted opinion?

posted April 03, 2010 12:11 PM         

That language was in the House Bill which passed the House and which only became a dead issue when Scott Brown was elected to the Senate on January 20 THIS YEAR...about 2 and a half months ago. and the House bill had to be abandoned in order to pass O'BomberCare.

The bill which passed the House was a revision of HR-3200 which was introduced in the House in July, 2009 and the provisions of which were known before it was introduced. Republicans and others started reading those provisions and publishing them in speeches, online and in the press.

The "fixed" Senate bill excludes Criminal Prosecutions for non compliance but doesn't exclude Misdemeanor Prosecutions which can carry a sentence of 11 months and 29 days.

posted April 03, 2010 01:19 PM         

i don't worry about people TRYING to pass bills that aren't ready yet. its a negotiation process, and if you have ever bartered you know that what you ask for is not necessarily what you expect to get. just like that dastardly "deadline" which was just an attempt to get people actually doing something instead of sitting on their hands cussing each other out.

you claim to support the constitution but you think the process of hammering out bills should be circumvented and no one should suggest ANYTHING that can't be approved. good luck with that.

but it was never the intention or the practice of the constitution that everyone interpret it according to jwhop. even the authors disagreed on many fundamental points. that is WHY it was written the way it is.

posted April 03, 2010 05:49 PM         

"... such taxpayer shall not be subject to any criminal prosecution or penalty with respect to such failure."

"notwithstanding any other provision of law"