So far Obamacare has been shuffling a deck full of jokers. It’s a bad idea in the first place, based on lies, paternalism and trickery, and enshrined in an elephantine bill few bothered to read but passed anyway. Even supporters such as Montana Democrat Max Baucus described it as a train wreck. The government paid hundreds of millions of dollars to crony incompetent contractors who spent the money but could not explain why the website did not work. HEW boss Kathleen Sebelius conceded the website was insecure and that “navigators” could be convicted felons. Despite all that and more, things will really get dicey when Obamacare plays the IRS card.

According to a report in the Washington Post, which has been handing out “Pinnochios” for the president’s lies, everything hinges on the IRS, whose tasks include “helping to distribute trillions of dollars in insurance subsidies and penalizing people who do not comply.” Those are part of “nearly four dozen new tasks” that represent the biggest increase in IRS responsibilities in decades. IRS bosses say they are ready to roll but others remain skeptical. MIT economist Jon Gruber, a designer of Obamacare mandates, told the Post “We should be absolutely clear we don’t know how this will work.” Robert Laszewski of Health Policy and Strategy Associates sees “little hope we are going to get enough younger healthy people to sign up, and that means that this law is in grave danger of financial collapse.”

To make Obamacare palatable legislators barred the IRS from using liens or levies to punish non-participants. But they can deduct the fine from tax refunds. Brian Haile, health policy analyst with a tax firm, told the Post “I wouldn’t be very confident they’ll do much better here than on their other tasks.” And how are they doing with those.

As we recently noted, the IRS has been giving away billions to identity thieves. Some IRS bosses have been taking the Fifth Amendment before government committees and others own up to “horrible customer service.” Get ready for more abuse, incompetence and waste with Obamacare. And remember to eat your vegetables.