June 10, 2013 6:00PM # Plaintiffs Ask Court to Block IRS’s Illegal ObamaCare Taxes this Year By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) --- SHARE I have blogged about the Internal Revenue Service’s attempt [to tax, borrow, and spend $800 billion contrary to the clear language of ObamaCare](https://www.cato.org/blog/gerson-other-irs-scandal), and how both Oklahoma (in [*Pruitt v. Sebelius*](https://www.cato.org/blog/oklahoma-wins-lawsuit-whole-structure-obamacare-starts-fall-apart)) and a group of individuals and small businesses (in [*Halbig v. Sebelius*](https://www.cato.org/blog/national-review-states-should-join-oklahoma-challenge-irss-800-billion-power-grab)) have filed suit to block this raw power grab. The Congressional Research Service writes that these challenges “could be a major obstacle to the implementation of \[ObamaCare\].” George Mason University law professor Michael Greve [writes](http://www.libertylawsite.org/2013/05/08/obamacare-litigation-2-0/): > This is *huge*: all of Obamacare hangs on the outcome…If successful…\[either\] case will bring Obamacare’s Exchange engine to a screeching halt…In short, this is for all the marbles. Last week, the *Halbig* plaintiffs [asked](http://legalnewsline.com/news/federal-government/242132-small-business-owners-want-suit-over-obamacare-irs-rule-decided-now) the U.S. district court for the District of Columbia to speed things up. Though the IRS doesn’t have to respond to the *Halbig* complaint until July, the plaintiffs filed [a motion for summary judgment](http://legalnewsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/carvinmotion.pdf) asking the court to rule on the case before the end of 2013. According to the plaintiffs: > Plaintiffs need a determination on the merits far enough in advance of January 1, 2014, to allow them to conform their behavior to the law. Because the validity of the regulation turns on a purely legal question and the administrative record is closed, Plaintiffs are moving for summary judgment now, and hope thereby to avoid the need to litigate a motion for preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order at the eleventh hour. The plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment cites my paper (with Jonathan Adler), “[Taxation Without Representation: The Illegal IRS Rule to Expand Tax Credits Under the PPACA](http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2106789).” On June 17, one week from today, Cato will host a policy forum on *Halbig v. Sebelius* featuring plaintiffs’ counsel Michael Carvin and other luminaries. [Register here.](https://www.cato.org/events/halbig-v-sebelius-all-obamacare-hangs-outcome) ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care), [Regulation](https://www.cato.org/regulatory-studies), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).