The so-called reform conservatives released a book of policy proposals last week to much fanfare. On the whole, it’s the usual hodgepodge of conservative ideas, though dressed up in slicker graphics. There is the ever-present call to repeal Obamacare in favor of tax credits, which is neither new nor interesting. There is the “drill baby drill” energy policy that makes not even a single mention of climate change. But the biggest horror show of all is the tax reform proposal, which is nothing more than the usual screw-the-poor pablum.
At its essential core, the reform conservative tax plan is actually two proposals. The first proposal gets rid of our seven marginal tax rates that span from 10 to 40 percent and replaces them with two marginal tax rates of 15 and 35 percent. The second proposal massively expands the American welfare state by dramatically increasing the cash transfers parents of children receive. Well, it increases the cash transfers some parents will receive, namely middle- and upper-class parents, while totally neglecting the rest.
The net affect of all of this is that, under the proposal, a family making $70,000 per year who had twins would receive more than $7,000 per year in child welfare payments via the tax code. A family making $10,000 or $15,000 per year who had twins might receive a few hundred dollars in child welfare payments, if any at all. They’d also have the pleasure of seeing their current federal income tax rate of 10 percent bump up to 15 percent.
Needless to say, this is grotesque, vicious and cruel. It even gives Paul Ryan’s annual budget horror show a run for its money in the contest of who can come up with the most poor-hating idea. If we want to provide welfare income to parents to help them raise their kids, a good idea in my view, then it should be provided equally to all parents, for instance through a flat child allowance.
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Here, the tortured gimmick they opt for is to say that these child benefits are called for because children grow up to pay into the Social Security and Medicare system. Thus, parents who raise children are sort of also contributing in taxes all of the money their kids will pay into these retirement security programs. Thus, to offset that additional tax paid by their kid when they are grown, the parents should receive these benefits. It’s not welfare, you see. It’s actually just an offset for taxes the children will pay way in the future. Got that? Probably not, because it makes no sense.
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So by their own bizarre argument, the reform conservatives are making the case for a flat child allowance system in which all families receive identical benefits for their children. But instead of that, they’ve proposed a system where richer parents get tens of thousands of dollars more in child benefits than poorer parents, the poorest of whom will get no benefits at all. Meet the new conservatives, same as the old conservatives.
Wow... The usual screw-the-poor, and give it to the wealthy...reverse "Robin Hood"-ism... Imagine my surprise.
Ryan doesn't even try to pass it off any more as something other than what it is--bare naked classism.
I just hope they keep doin' what they're doin'... PLEASE... (I don't think they're going to be able to find enough old, angry white-guys to pull this off... Too many are dying off)... But it will be fun to see them try...
