Today, the Supreme Court will hear 90 minutes of oral argument on whether the court has the right to hear the case against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act before the first penalties occur in 2015, according to a New York Times report.
The Anti-Injunction Act, an 1867 federal law, requires cases aimed at curbing a tax to be heard only after the tax is implemented. The individual mandate will take effect in 2014 and the penalties for noncompliance will be paid on federal tax returns in 2015. Thus, if the court rules the Anti-Injunction Act applies, this week's three-day schedule of hearings against the law would have to be postponed until 2015.
Both the Obama administration and the reform law's opponents maintain that the payment for rejecting the individual mandate is a penalty and not a tax for the purposes of the Anti-Injunction Act. However, as a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the act last year, the Supreme Court appointed Robert A. Long to serve as an outside lawyer to argue for the Anti-Injunction Act.
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The Anti-Injunction Act, an 1867 federal law, requires cases aimed at curbing a tax to be heard only after the tax is implemented. The individual mandate will take effect in 2014 and the penalties for noncompliance will be paid on federal tax returns in 2015. Thus, if the court rules the Anti-Injunction Act applies, this week's three-day schedule of hearings against the law would have to be postponed until 2015.
Both the Obama administration and the reform law's opponents maintain that the payment for rejecting the individual mandate is a penalty and not a tax for the purposes of the Anti-Injunction Act. However, as a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the act last year, the Supreme Court appointed Robert A. Long to serve as an outside lawyer to argue for the Anti-Injunction Act.
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