This is quoted as given to me:
"This is a great explanation of the tax rebate program recently enacted by Congress. If you don't understand how it will work maybe this explanation will help:
50,000 people went to a baseball game, but the game was rained out. A refund was then due to the ticket holders. The team was about to mail refunds when a group of Congressional Democrats stopped them and suggested that they send out the ticket refunds based on the Democrat National Committee's interpretation of fairness.
Originally the refunds were to be paid based on the price each person had paid for the tickets. Unfortunately that meant most of the refund money would be going to the ticket holders that had purchased the most expensive tickets. This, according to the DNC, is considered totally unfair. A decision was then made to pay out the refunds in this manner:
People in the $10 seats will get back $ 15. After all, they have less money to spend on tickets to begin with. Call it an 'Earned Income Ticket Credit.' Persons 'earn' it by having few skills, poor work habits, and low ambition, thus keeping them at entry-level wages.People in the $25 seats will get back $25, because it 'seems fair.'
People in the $50 seats will get back $1, because they already make a lot of money and don't need a refund. After all, if they can afford a $50 ticket, they must not be paying enough taxes.
People in the $75 luxury box seats will each have to pay an additional $25 because it's the 'right thing to do'.
People walking past the stadium that couldn't afford to buy a ticket for the game each will get a $10 refund, even though they didn't pay anything for the tickets. They need the most help. They are either lazy or think that society owes them for just being born. Sometimes this is known as Affirmative Action.
Now do you understand?"
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2 comments:
Well your Dad and I were eligible for the earned income amount the three years before he died. So which were we, few skills, poor work habits, or low ambition?
I do agree a rebate should be in the same amount of the tax bracket where you fall.
But, since the idea is to stimulate the economy, giving it to the lowest wage earners allows them to spend it, where everyone else might just save it!
It's true that the line about 'earned income credit' sounds extremely judgemental & as if the author is lumping people who don't earn a lot into a very harsh category. I was eligible for the earned income credit last year, because I was in school & not working... am I lazy? Don't think so. The career's I have chosen for myself don't pay squat. Do I have low ambition, or do I just think there's something more important out there than chasing after more money.
Ian serves his country by serving in the military. I serve my country by volunteering as an EMT & working to assist the developmentally disabled... and I don't get paid a lot and noone in the public even recognizes our efforts. Does that mean I have poor work habits & few skills... I don't think so.
And as my wonderful husband says regarding the rebate program... if the government is going to waste my money anyways, I prefer they return some of it to me so that I can make good use of it. :O)
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