Taxes or Penalties?

Welcome to the silliest non-debate of the month: if I don't buy health insurance as mandated by the new healthcare law, am I paying a tax or a penalty? This is a new nadir in the national political discourse. We are now arguing semantics, not policies, not politics, but semantics. Am I paying a tax or a penalty?

This stems from Chief Justice Roberts' decision to uphold the mandate by calling it a tax, thus maintaining that Congress has the right to levy taxes. Republicans were quick to seize upon this as a tax increase. Democrats were just as quick to maintain that it was a penalty imposed upon those who choose not to buy insurance. It obviously doesn't matter. If you choose not to buy insurance, you owe money. The term is irrelevant. The law was upheld. The tax, penalty, fine, or whatever it is will be collected regardless of how we choose to define it.

Perhaps, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling, and after years of "debate" on the topic we should move on. There are, after all, a multitude of other issues to address. I tick these off every third or fourth post, so I'll spare you the laundry list here, but if we think the future of the country hinges on any one issue, even one as big as healthcare reform, we are kidding ourselves. The battle has been fought. The law could be improved, but the conversation isn't about improving it. Am I paying a tax or a penalty?

I often ponder what America's most pressing concern is, and I arrive at a number of different conclusions depending on the day, but the argument about taxing or penalizing has led me to fear that the answer is our political system. There are so many things that need fixing, so many issues to address, and yet this is where we find ourselves: Am I paying a tax or a penalty? No one knows, no one cares, it doesn't matter. But it is at the center of American political discourse. The system is failing us. Every day that we spend debating semantics is a day we don't address our future.

Taxes or penalties? I hope our politicians solve this pressing issue in a timely manner so that maybe, just maybe, please, they can try to fix our other problems.