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So, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that ObamaCare is constitutional because it is a tax. That settles it, right?

Not so fast.

On Friday, the day after the ObamaCare ruling, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney insisted the fine is still just a “penalty”.

Carney went on to say Friday that the “penalty” will affect only about 1 percent of Americans, those who refuse to get health insurance. He said the penalty was modeled after the one put in place in Massachusetts when Mitt Romney was governor.

“It’s a penalty, because you have a choice. You don’t have a choice to pay your taxes, right?” Carney said.

Carney was initially reluctant to assign a label to the fine when pressed repeatedly by reporters Friday. “Call it what you want,” he said.

and more:

You can call it what you want,” he said. “If you read the opinion, it is not a broad-based tax. It affects one percent, by CBO estimates, of the population. It is not something that you assess like an income tax.”
It was unclear which Congressional Budget Office estimate Carney was referring to. Despite being pressed on the issue, though, the spokesman would not relent.

It didn’t even take 24 hours for the games and backtracking by the White House to begin. Don’t forget, they insisted to the American people — in order to get the bill passed — that it was not a tax. Clearly, they are worried about the tax narrative shaping the rest of the election season rhetoric.