TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

The administration would like things both ways on healthcare reform:

There are other complications. Mr. Verrilli’s argument that the penalty is not a tax for purposes of the 1867 law is in potential tension with one he will make on Tuesday, that the mandate was authorized not only by Congress’s power under the commerce clause but also by its power to levy taxes.

Mr. Verrilli argues that the name that Congress gave the payment required for violating the mandate in the health care law —a penalty, not a tax — matters for purposes of the 1867 law but is irrelevant in connection with the constitutional taxing power, where “it is the practical operation of the provision, not its label, that controls.”

Today the mandate is a penalty. Tomorrow it is a tax. Other words which mean the same thing: the mandate is whatever we want it to be, so as we get the result we desire.