May 18, 2012 2:27PM # Yes, the IRS Can Use Liens and Incarceration to Enforce ObamaCare’s Individual Mandate By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) --- SHARE Here’s a poor, unsuccessful letter I sent to the editor of the *Washington Post*: > A recent article \[“[Could the health-care law work without the individual mandate?](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/could-the-health-care-law-work-without-the-individual-mandate/2012/03/27/gIQAFqp9eS_story.html)”, Mar. 28, A8\] claims the IRS “will be barred from using … collection tools such as placing liens or threatening incarceration” to enforce compliance with the requirement that Americans obtain health insurance. Not so. > > > Suppose the IRS assesses me a $1,000 penalty for failing to obtain health insurance. It is true that the law prohibits the IRS from using liens or incarceration to collect *that* $1,000. But, money being fungible, the IRS may simply deem my first $1,000 of income-tax withholding to be payment of that penalty. As a result, I would owe an additional $1,000 in *income tax* at the end of the year, and the IRS could come after me with every tool at its disposal, including liens and incarceration. ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) [![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/).