Children (Still) Left Behind (washingtonpost.com): "this year's tax bill did nothing for the low-income group, though the cost would have been trivial in the context of the tax bill -- just $3.5 billion. To address this inequity, the Senate passed a separate measure that both fixed the low-income problem and made more high-earning taxpayers eligible for the credit; the Senate paid for its $10 billion measure by increasing customs users' fees. But the House, where leaders are hostile to tax credits for those who don't pay income taxes, used the opening as an excuse to pass another huge tax cut, knowing full well the Senate would never go along.
The House bill is an embarrassment -- unaffordable and unfair. As to cost: Its $82 billion price tag was unconscionable even before the grim new deficit projections. As to fairness: Consider a bill that's kinder to members of Congress than to soldiers or the working poor...
It shouldn't take $50 billion to solve a $3.5 billion problem.
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- posted by geoff @ #