RUSH: Last week, ladies and gentlemen, I shared with you a little tidbit that was leaked to me, if you will, by an accountant. And what I pointed out was — and, by the way, at RushLimbaugh.com we linked to a similar story at PowerLine, which had apparently found the same thing. There was a little paragraph from the joint taxation committee or some such thing, and it pointed out — and I made a big hullabaloo about this last week — that the Obamacare law specifically says that the IRS cannot attach liens or garnish wages in order to collect money from you or anybody else in the form of a tax or a fine for not having Obamacare. That they must get that money from your tax refund, and if you don’t have a tax refund then there is nothing mandating that you buy Obamacare insurance, and there is nothing mandating that you pay a fine.
So, in other words, according to Obamacare itself, there is no mandate. The Obamacare law itself specifies that you cannot have a lien placed or garnishes on your income, bank account, wages, what have you, to pay the fine or tax for not having an insurance plan under Obamacare. And if that’s the case, there’s no mandate. Well, there were several Drive-By news media sites that ridiculed me, as usual, and made fun and said that I was launching into something and I didn’t know what I was talking about.
Lo and behold, The Politico, “Rush Limbaugh’s Guide to Dodging Obamacare Tax Penalty.” And they say that I’m right. “Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh says heÂ’s discovered a sure-fire way to skirt ObamacareÂ’s penalties for failing to obtain health coverage next year — but youÂ’d have to give up a fat tax refund. … What Mr. Limbaugh said hinges entirely on people doing their taxes so they don’t get a refund, which is the way to go, even apart from beating the Obamacare tax.”
It really is, but I know most people are gonna continue to arrange themselves so they get a refund because they like that big lump sum of money every spring. But from a strictly economic financial standpoint, it’s not the wisest thing you could do, because that’s just your money anyway that you have paid. It’s money that you do not owe, that you’ve paid via withholding over the year, and when you file your return, the overpayment is calculated and here comes your refund, but without any interest, without any penalties. So you’ve given your money away for a year for the government to use, and then they theoretically give it back to you.
I remember when I worked for the Kansas City Royals, everybody there seemed to get these massive refunds every year. And they’d run around, “Oh, yeah, boy, really, my accountant is so damn good.” They’d brag about how they’re shafting the government. I didn’t know any better. So I called my dad’s secretary and said, “What are you doing wrong here? I mean, everybody around me is getting these huge refunds and I’m not getting anything.” So I sent every credit card receipt. She said, “I’m sorry, you’re not getting a refund because we’re withholding on you properly.” I still didn’t understand.
I didn’t understand this until much later, that what they were doing was overpaying out the wazoo. They were limiting their take-home pay. They were maximizing their deductions all in exchange for getting a big refund every year, in some cases these people got $4,000 refunds. And of course that’s nice to get a $4,000 lump sum. Whoever has that at one time? So it’s a tough thing to tell people to structure their withholding so that they don’t ever get a refund ’cause most people like it, but if you have a refund, then the IRS can come grab whatever they want from it in the form of a penalty or fine or whatever the law says they can get.
But if you don’t get a refund, then they can’t touch you. If you don’t get a refund, there’s no mandate. The mandate falls apart here. This is where the Drive-Bys thought that I was off my rocker again and had no idea what I was talking about and lying to you good people, and now The Politico has found out. They went out, talked to experts, and here’s the paragraph: “Experts say Limbaugh is correct on one point: The IRS lacks teeth in enforcing the individual mandate.” Bingo. There is no mandate if they lack the teeth to enforce it.
I don’t know when the last time The Politico ever admitted that I was right about anything. But even at that they have to claim I was only half right because they have an anonymous source which said the IRS does intend to collect interest on any unpaid penalties. But the interest rate now is 1%. I think people will risk it, frankly. So I just wanted to pass this on to you, too, folks. You get the truth on this program, and you get the facts on this program. I don’t make it up just for the purposes of advancing my agenda. The other side does that.
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