6.5 million taxpayers paid $3 billion in ObamaCare penalties in 2016

Approximately 6.5 million taxpayers paid $3 billion in Obamacare penalties for not having health insurance in 2016, according to preliminary data from the Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen.

Beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate required that Americans purchase health care coverage or pay a penalty to the Internal Revenue Service.

While the number of taxpayers paying the penalty has declined since 2014, the total amount in penalties paid to the IRS has increased since then.

In 2014, individuals without insurance had to pay the greater penalty of either a flat fee of $95 or 1 percent of the household’s adjusted gross income in excess of the threshold for mandatory tax filing. In 2016, those penalties increased to a flat fee of $695 or 2.5 percent of the adjusted gross income.

In 2014, Koskinen’s preliminary data showed that there were 7.5 million taxpayers who paid a total of $1.5 billion in Obamacare penalties. Final data from the IRS, however, showed those numbers increase to 8.1 million taxpayers paying a total of $1.7 billion in Obamacare penalties.

Koskinen’s preliminary data from 2016 shows that there were 6.5 million taxpayers paying a total of $3 billion in Obamacare penalties, which is nearly double what the IRS collected in 2014. As in 2014, final IRS data may show an increase in these numbers when it is released.

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