"You Lie" Takes on New Meaning

Barack Obama pushed back on George Stephanopoulos' questions by claiming it is not a tax if the government requires people to pay up to $3,800 if they don't buy health insurance.

Stephanopoulos is a former member of the Clinton White House, so is a partisan advocate of Democrats. Even he was astounded by Obama's tax denial, going so far as to say he looked up the definition of "tax" to criticize Obama.

So let's look at various definitions of "tax" from online sources:

Merrian-Webster defines a tax as "a charge usually of money imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes."

Dictionary.com says a tax is "a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc."

The Cambridge Dictionaries Online say a tax is "an amount of money paid to the government, which is based on your income or the cost of goods or services you have bought."

Google's dictionary says a tax is "an amount of money that you have to pay to the government so that it can pay for public services."

Wikipedia says "to tax" is "to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer."

The point is clear: Obama is completely wrong . He is proposing a large tax, directed overwhelmingly on those making below $250,000 - the very group he claimed during the campaign for whom he wouldn't raise taxes.