I was reading an article about the stimulus package being pushed by the Democrats, and this section jumped out at me:


The House version of Obama's "Making Work Pay" tax credit would give workers making $75,000 per year or less the full $500 tax credit; couples with incomes up to $150,000 a year would receive a $1,000 credit.

The plan being considered Thursday by the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee also would provide a temporary $2,500 tax credit to help pay for college. It would boost the earned income tax credit for low-income workers and permit them to receive the entire $1,000 per child tax credit as a refund in 2009-10 if they make as little as $8,500 a year and wouldn't otherwise qualify.

     Unfortunately, we've been using the tax code to redistribute wealth for quite some time.  That's why you sometimes see individuals who pay less than $1,000 in taxes get a tax "refund" of a few thousand.  Now we have a proposed $500 tax credit for middle class workers, and workers making as little as $8,500 receiving the full $1,000 tax credit for each child they have, on top of a refund of taxes they actually paid.  So, just to summarize, if you work as hard as you can, you will get a small tax break.  If you are under-employed and carelessly have children you can't afford, you will likely be rewarded by getting a "tax refund" which includes $1,000 per child.  If you paid $800 in taxes and get $3,000 back, it isn't a refund, it's welfare.  Karl Marx would be proud.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090122/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_economy