June 5, 2013 3:20PM # *NR*: States Should Join Oklahoma, Challenge IRS’s $800b Power Grab By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) --- SHARE The IRS is attempting to [tax, borrow, and spend more than $800 billion](http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2106789) over the next 10 years without congressional authorization, and indeed in violation of an express statutory prohibition enacted by both chambers of Congress and signed into law by President Obama. In a new editorial, *[National Review](http://nationalreview.com/article/350047/obamacare-oklahoma-leads-editors)* calls on officials in [33 states](https://www.cato.org/publications/white-paper/50-vetoes-how-states-can-stop-obama-health-care-law) to join [Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt](https://www.cato.org/blog/oklahoma-wins-lawsuit-whole-structure-obamacare-starts-fall-apart) in filing court challenges to this illegal and partisan [power grab](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/michael-gerson-the-irs-has-an-unwelcome-role-in-obamacare/2013/05/23/b4e10550-c3df-11e2-8c3b-0b5e9247e8ca_story.html#): > By offering the \[Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s\] subsidies in states that have not set up \[health insurance\] exchanges, the federal government is inflicting tax penalties on individuals and employers that go beyond even what Obamacare allows… > > *Pruitt v. Sebelius* has been supplemented by a lawsuit filed last month by a group of small businesses and individual taxpayers also challenging the IRS’s authority to impose penalties outside of state-created exchanges… > > > Stopping the IRS from imposing punitive taxes where it has no legal power to do so should in fact be a popular and bipartisan issue, regardless of one’s opinions about the ACA itself… > > > Republican governors, attorneys general, and state legislators looking to use their offices to the significant benefit of the nation as a whole should be lining up to create a 30-state united front with Oklahoma. Scott Pruitt is fighting for the rule of law, and Republican governors might trouble themselves to give him a hand. Click [here](https://www.cato.org/events/halbig-v-sebelius-all-obamacare-hangs-outcome) for information on an upcoming Cato policy forum on [*Halbig v. Sebelius*](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303933704577531271643114572.html), the legal challenge filed by several small businesses and taxpayers. ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Regulation](https://www.cato.org/regulatory-studies), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![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/).