The penalty [for not carrying insurance as required by the new health care bill] is assessed through the Code and accounted for as an additional amount of Federal tax owed. However, it is not subject to the enforcement provisions of subtitle F of the Code. The use of liens and seizures otherwise authorized for collection of taxes does not apply to the collection of this penalty. Non-compliance with the personal responsibility requirement to have health coverage is not subject to criminal or civil penalties under the Code and interest does not accrue for failure to pay such assessments in a timely manner.

So the IRS might gaze at you sternly and maybe wag a finger or two, but there’s nothing they can do at this point to collect the non-compliance penalty. Megan McArdle lays out the possible consequences:

It would mean that in practice the mandate would only apply to people who get tax refunds; otherwise, just write the IRS a check for everything except the mandate. And since you don’t have to get a tax refund–you can have your employer change your withholding–anyone who doesn’t want to pay it, wouldn’t have to.

But it’s not clear that this is what’s actually going to happen. If the IRS can reorder the priority of the tax dollars they take from you, then they can simply put any funds towards the mandate first. That way, if you attempt to go without insurance and then pay the IRS everything except the mandate penalty, you’ll end up with a tax liability the exact size of the mandate penalty . . . for which they can now garnish your wages, put tax liens on your house, and otherwise do all the nasty stuff that they are authorized to do under Subtitle F.

Naturally I’m all for not providing government revenue agents with more authority to steal money from me, although I suspect that the enforcement problem will be fixed sooner than later (the personal responsibility clause itself doesn’t begin until 2014).  But just imagine how much revenue the IRS would collect, if it could not threaten taxpayers with imprisonment.  It might just be enough to cover the printing costs on Obama’s health care bill.

In the meantime, to paraphrase Captain Barbossa, consider this rule more like…a guideline.

(Cross-posted from The Libertarian Standard)

159. Puppycide in Buffalo during a police raid that fails to turn up any drugs or make any arrests.

160. Maricopa County (Ariz.) Sheriff Joe Arpaio, no friend of fugitives, illegal immigrants or civil rights, spends an unknown amount of taxpayers’ money on production costs for a Fox reality show.  Then his boys arrest some people applauding a speech critical of Arpaio during a county supervisors meeting.  And Phoenix police raid the home of a blogger who’s been criticizing them.

161. I’m from the government, and I’m here to check out that funny noise under the hood: President Obama can’t save the banks or balance the budget, but he’s now backing your transmission.  More details about the warranty from those helpful folks at reason:

162. “One of liberty’s great benefactors”, Burt Blumert, chairman of the Mises Institute and a champion of many libertarian causes, passes away at the age of 80.

163. After a student is kicked in the groin, a Connecticut school bans all physical contact.  Because today’s hug could be tomorrow’s headlock.

164. Michigan woman charged for her son’s stay in juvie hall, then is sent to jail herself after she’s unable to pay.

165. More than half of California’s service stations face hefty fines or even closure for failing to install expensive vapor recovery nozzles on their pumps.  The CARB-mandated systems run about $11,000 per pump.

166. Congress seeks to give the FDA the power to regulate tobacco, while also limiting safer choices for people looking to cut back or quit.

167. Speaking of tobacco, remember Obama’s promise not to raise taxes on people making less than $250,000?  Well, he lied, unless you think only rich people smoke.  They don’t, at least not as much as the poor do, making the new cigarette tax increase highly regressive.

The Daily Cuts:

152. Eminent domain abuse continues four years after Kelo, but some folks are fighting back.  More here from reason‘s coverage of eminent domain issues.

153. It’s just no fun being a teenager in Texas.

154. New York state bureaucrats treat “direct-to-consumer” genomics firms as laboratories, burdening them with needless regulations.

155. Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton is my new folk hero.  He decided to check out of this world on his own, rather than have the Feds put him in prison for the unpardonable crime of distilling his own moonshine.  His tombstone reads “POPCORN SAID FUCK YOU”.  Here’s to you, Popcorn.

156. Warren Meyer over at Coyote Blog presents this easy-to-follow checklist on how to start a business . . . in Alabama.  The other 49 states may be different.

157. Congress shovels $182.5 billion dollars into the AIG furnace, then heroically recovers 0.09% of it for taxpayers.

119. Frustrated that drivers arrested for DUI might actually be acquitted, a Tennessee lawmaker is pushing a bill that would ban defense attorneys from advertising DUI-related services.

120. While we’re in the Volunteer State, aspiring johns may wish to know that they could lose their car if arrested for soliciting prostitution.  Not convicted, mind you.  As Memphis Police director Larry Godwin put it, “I’d say seize every dadgum vehicle and send a message.”

121. Boston puts the kibosh on bottle service in bars and clubs, because according to the licensing board chairman, Beantown “has a lot more to offer than just getting people inebriated”.

122. Actor Wesley Snipes receives the maximum sentence—36 months—for not voluntarily filing his tax returns, although he was acquitted of the more serious charges of tax fraud and conspiracy.

123. Sheriff Joe, on the go: the self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff in America” sweeps through Arizona’s Maricopa County and rounds up troublesome Mexicans, half of whom might actually be here illegally.

124. Senate leaders agree to jack up taxes on fuel for private jets by 65 percent.

125. A Seattle man who smokes marijuana legally for medical purposes has been denied a life-saving liver transplant due to his drug use.

126. A utility subcontractor in Brooklyn Park, Minn., became lightheaded from chemicals in the bathroom of a home where he was installing a hot water heater.  He called the police, and on his word alone, they raided the home on suspicion that it housed a meth lab.  Instead they found vinegar and pickling lime, which the homeowner used to maintain his saltwater fish tank.

112. A-raiding we will go:

• Massive sweeps in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas nets hundreds of arrests, 1,300 traffic tickets and some seized cash.  All in the name of keeping us safe from terrorists.
• Police in Akron, Ohio continue a “Gun Violence Retention Sweep” that resulted in 72 arrests, although no guns were confiscated.

113. Minnesota seeks to conscript banks into its ranks of tax collectors, requiring them to rat out customers who owe the state money.

114. Another isolated Tasing incident leaves a a University of Miami graduate in critical condition.

115. Flying the heavily scanned skies:

• L. A. International Airport will start using body-imaging scanning to search for contraband under passengers’ clothing.  The technology “essentially shows how the person looks without clothing.”
• The Department of Homeland Security leans on airlines and cruise lines to collect fingerprint data from all foreign travelers departing the U. S.  Industry lobbyists claim the effort is cost-prohibitive.

116. Porn film producer John Stagliano faces multiple Federal charges of distributing obscene material.  Said “Buttman” of the charges: “With the war in Iraq going so well, Osama bin Laden captured, the economy thriving, our public school system fixed, and our crumbling infrastructure completely repaired, the Bush administration’s top priority seems to be harassing filmmakers and watching our movies.”

117. Shock to the system: a Colorado man convicted of murder served 20 years in prison, where the state put his electrician skills to good use, transporting him all around the correctional system, and even driving him to Denver to take his exams and paying his license renewal fees.  But now that he’s paroled, the state licensing board is threatening to pull his license based on his murder conviction, even though they’ve known about it for years.

• Two teens are shot by a Howard County, MD police officer during an investigation into suspected drug activity.
• A couple in Pennsylvania, Steve and Karen Haver, narrowly avoids losing their home after police, while investigating a burglar alarm at their residence, found five marijuana plants growing in their basement.  Although state law authorizes forfeiture of property, including homes, after a drug arrest (not just conviction), the couple agreed to a plea deal that allowed them to keep their home.  But Haver’s wife has already been fired from her job, and Haver expects to lose his when his contract expires in June.
• A Denver man is shot to death by police during a drug raid after undercover officers purchased crack from him a few days earlier.  Family members claim that Nathan Aguillard suffered from schizophrenia and was “too paranoid” to sell drugs to other people.  “They chose what seems to be the most confrontational approach to arrest him,” said a lawyer for the family.

98. The California legislature considers a bill to ban metallic balloons filled with helium, which can float away and make contact with power lines, causing power outages.  While they’re at it, I hope they can do something about those damn sneakers that always get hung up there.

99. The Pentagon prepares to issue hand-held lie detectors to U. S. troops in Afghanistan in the ongoing war on terror.  I promise you, these will never be used here on civilians.

100. Government money grabs:

• Dallas drops the timing of yellow lights at select intersections to below the minimum standards set by the Texas Department of Transportation in an effort to increase red-light violations.
• The state of New York plans to raise its cigarette tax to $2.75 per pack, which could push the price of a pack in New York City to more than $9.  Already the high taxes on smokes have led to a healthy black market.
• And not content to tax smokers into oblivion, New York also plans to go after Internet shoppers with a new online sales tax.
• The District of Columbia goes after a Montgomery County man for a $200 parking ticket . . . which had been issued to his car after it was stolen.

101. The Army kills a suspected terrorist, approximately seven pounds and answered to the name of “Fluffy”.

102. Police in Oakland ask very nicely if they can enter people’s homes and search for guns.