In what California’s own Rep. Nancy Pelosi describes as help for the “middle class and those who aspire to be in the middle class,” the Bush Administration and House leaders have agreed to an economic stimulus plan. Granted, when you have to negotiate with the likes of Nancy Pelosi, you are not going to get everything you want, but I was shocked to see the plan includes a tax “rebate” for Americans who do not even pay taxes. Workers who make just $3000 a year and do not pay taxes will receive a $300 "tax rebate." These folks are below the poverty level and qualify for loads of federal and state assistance. This supposedly temporary and emergency stimulus deal is supposed to be providing relief for taxpayers and stimulating the economy. Instead, the Democrats have made sure to load it up with handouts masked as “tax rebates.” The Republicans did get the Democrats to give in on extending unemployment benefits and increasing food stamp payments in exchange for this Earned Income Tax Credit-type payment. The Democrats may be calling these payments “tax rebates,” but the GOP should be clear that these payments are special welfare payments, not rebates.
January 25th, 2008 at 12:00 am
These rebates for non-taxpayers, which are phased out for people who actually pay taxes, make a complete mockery of the real need for tax reform.
Giving “tax relief” to non-taxpayers is a non-solution to a non-problem. What makes it even more irrational is that the federal government does not have the money to do this, so they are borrowing from our grandkids.
Won’t this silly gesture just lead to inflation, which hurts the poor far more than it hurts the rich?
January 25th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I have no idea how much this “Tom Hudson” fellow knows about taxes, but he is correct.
By capping this “tax rebate” at a level that eliminates couples who make more than $150,000 a year they are effectively eliminating the people who pay 95% of the taxes in the country.
If they want to see an economic stimulus, give the 150,000+ couples a one-time tax credit for major purchases in a sixty-day period several months after these checks go out. Then compare how the economy fared; government cash handouts vs. government getting off the backs of taxpayers. I don’t need to see the results I know which one will win hands down.