Mitt Romney Campaign: Healthcare Mandate Isn't a Tax

The White House seemed to get an unlikely ally in its position that the mandate under the health care law is not a tax but a penalty: Mitt Romney. While Republicans have been tripping over themselves in recent days to highlight that the Supreme Court’s ruling said the health care mandate is valid as an exercise in the government’s power to tax, their presidential candidate doesn’t seem to agree, reports the Washington Post.

“The governor disagreed with the ruling of the court. He agreed with the dissent that was written by Justice Scalia that very clearly said that the mandate was not a tax,” Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior adviser to Romney, said on MSNBC. “The governor believes what we put in place in Massachusetts was a penalty, and he disagrees with the court’s ruling that the mandate was a tax.”

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