Flashback: Obama: Mandate Is Not A Tax

STEPHANOPOULOS: I "” I don't think I'm making it up. Merriam Webster's Dictionary: Tax "” "a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes." OBAMA: George, the fact that you looked up Merriam's Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you're stretching a little bit right now. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gone to the dictionary to check on the definition. I mean what"¦ STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, no, but"¦ OBAMA: "¦what you're saying is"¦ STEPHANOPOULOS: I wanted to check for myself. But your critics say it is a tax increase. OBAMA: My critics say everything is a tax increase. My critics say that I'm taking over every sector of the economy. You know that. Look, we can have a legitimate debate about whether or not we're going to have an individual mandate or not, but"¦ STEPHANOPOULOS: But you reject that it's a tax increase? OBAMA: I absolutely reject that notion.