&quot;creating fictional commerce and then taxing it doesn&#x27;t seem right&quot;<p>The ACA case that decided the legality of the individual mandate also had the effect of prohibiting the government from instigating commerce for the purpose of regulating it. Note that the tax-penalty (can it be both at the same time? Can light be a wave and a particle at the same time?) over not having health insurance is not a tax on commerce in health insurance; it is a penalty for violating the individual mandate. So the court has ruled that it can penalize people for violating the law under its taxing power, but also that the government cannot instigate commerce. The only way then to tax imputed rent would be to mandate that property owners rent their dwellings out. This in turn would be a violation of government instigation of commerce. A catch-22.<p>So not only does it not seem right, it doesn&#x27;t seem legal.