Another Comment

Here. You'll have to go to the post for context.

 1. Maybe they didn't intend to deceive at the outset. But they barely passed this legislation, and a key part of that sales job was that it is not a tax.  

 2. Obama, like almost all politicians, promised not to raise taxes on the middle class. So you think that Obama would have campaigned on raising taxes given your more comprehensive counterfactual? I doubt he could remain silent on the topic. Or he would have just broken his campaign promise to get ACA passed? And you don't think breaking his promise would affected his ability to pass the ACA?  

 3. If it's labeled a tax, a politician can still deny it's a tax, but he will be easily refuted by the language of the statute.  

 Saying that a tax must be labeled a tax to be treated as one is not the same as saying everything labeled a tax is automatically justified by the taxing power.