Side Effects: IRS Could Eat Your Refund

Vivek Rajasekhar / April 20, 2010

Obamacare requires all individuals to carry health insurance for themselves and their families.  Those who don’t will have to pay a penalty.  And the IRS is the agency charged with making sure the uninsured pony up.

Just how will the IRS do that?  It’s not something lawmakers got around to actually, you know, writing down in any detail in that big bill.  That’s even harder to do than reading that monster.  But now that they’ve made Obamacare the law of the land, they’re starting to take an interest in the question. No doubt some are blaming the daily eruptions on congressional staff.

The Senate Finance Committee recently held a hearing to explore what the IRS might do to enforce the congressional mandate to buy health insurance.  One answer headlined the Wall Street Journal’s report on the hearing: IRS May Withhold Tax Refunds to Enforce Health Care Law. (more…)