In his Wall Street Journal column supporting the extension of the expanded child tax credit, William Galston points to an important question about the measure:
If the point of the CTC is to reduce child poverty and the economic burdens of child-rearing for low- and moderate-income families, one might wonder why couples making five times the median family income are eligible to receive any of it. But Mr. Biden has ruled out higher taxes on families making less than $400,000, so the point is moot.
I’m game. Clearly, that’s not the point. What is?
Heh.
At the risk of being labeled a minarchist….
So you send your money to Washington. They promise you it will be wisely spent, on you. (more, later) You are foolish enough to believe that they don’t take a skim in administration, or divert the funds. And those administrators vote for the pols. Oh, right. I do deals for a living; how’s this one looking so far? Not promising.
So now you are left with a logic problem. As a first cut you might want to consider the dollar recycling project more locally. Do you think the Representative from NY or the Senator from CA wants to spend the loot on Iowa? Or vice versa?
Now you may tell me that its a pool of money for the general good. “What kind of society do we want?” Seriously? What fraction of the budget do we spend on the poor? What are we doing about education other than funding teachers and administrators – you know, reliable voters. What are we doing for the mentally ill? How about our disabled veterans?
Nope. King corn. King sugar. Electric vehicles. Solar dreams. Transfer payments to middle income Americans. Transfer payment to wealthy Americans. If I was a cynic, I’d think we just take the money to buy votes. If I was a cynic.
And yet we do it every election cycle. Why? Politicians promise YOU will be the beneficiary. And your filthy, no good neighbor will be the payor. Its pure greed and lottery-like thinking.