Manson Family Values

16 June 2003


GOP Says No Child Tax Credit for the Poor

The Republican Party in the House of Representatives showed its true colors last week. They turned down a measure approved by their Senatorial colleagues to allow families in the range of $10-27,000 annual income to receive the same child tax credit wealthier families get. The argument is that these families pay no income tax, and the tax code should not become a welfare system. The argument opens a can of worms for them.

Leaving aside the anti-family tone of it, saying that the upbringing of middle-class children will be subsidized but those of the poor will not, the biggest welfare mothers in the country are businesses. The flat tax has never been passed because too many companies get by with no taxes at all. The entire tax code is complicated because of depreciations, deductions, credits and so on that most never could use if they knew such things existed.

Take, as an example, another piece of the legislation the House approved. A business that purchases an SUV may now deduct the full cost of the vehicle. As much as the SUV is an ugly and appalling thing, there are some businesses that can benefit from owning one -- mostly rural enterprises. Just as a city taxi company can write off the cost of its fleet, these rural businesses should have the same ability.

One must take issue with the idea, though, of a real estate broker in Chicago enjoying a subsidy for the monster SUV just purchased while the children of the poor receive nothing. What is sauce for the goose, etc.,

Either the subsidies are for all or for none. Anything else is a special interest with special treatment versus the rest of society. Where justice lies is clear.