(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is warning the Obama Administration that its intention to levy taxes directly against state and local governments is unconstitutional and is outside the authority of the Affordable Care Act. DeWine has sent a letter to United States Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell raising his concerns.
HHS has indicated it intends to apply tax assessments against state and local governments for Obamacare’s Transitional Reinsurance Program. As part of the law’s funding of that program, the Affordable Care Act authorizes tax assessments against health insurance companies and certain employers who offer self-insured group health plans. However, the Affordable Care Act contains no language that authorizes the assessments against state and local governments and their self-insured public employee health plans. Further, there is no precedent in Supreme Court case law or in the United States Constitution itself for the federal government to impose such a broad-based tax against the States directly.
In his letter:
- DeWine urged HHS to “reconsider this misguided and unprecedented assertion of federal power that threatens radically to alter the balance of authority between the federal government and the States”;
- DeWine requested “that the federal government take no action to process these proposed assessments against the State of Ohio”;
- and, DeWine advised “that should the federal government persist in its stated intent to process these assessments against the State and its departments, the State of Ohio intends to take all appropriate legal action to recoup such forced payments exacted from State entities.”
Warren County, Ohio officials have also raised these concerns in a letter to the Obama Administration and to date have not received a response. Warren County initially brought attention of this issue to the Attorney General’s Office.
“County Commissioners are elected to oversee all of the spending of our taxpayer’s funds. When I saw the Federal Government levy a new form of taxation upon the state and local governments, my gut told me this wasn’t right and it could jeopardize our entire system of government. There is a longstanding tradition of governments being responsible for direct taxation of their constituents. Under this unprecedented power grab, taxpayers have no one to hold responsible if one government starts taxing another. The Warren County Commissioners are pleased to partner with Attorney General DeWine in standing up for the taxpayers of Warren County and the State of Ohio,” said Dave Young, President of the Warren County Board of Commissioners.
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Documents
Attorney General DeWine's Letter to HHS (PDF)
Media Contacts
Dan Tierney: 614-466-3840
Lisa Hackley: 614-466-3840