the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jun 11, 2001
We hear about those tax rebate checks we are supposedly going to get this summer. Washington is supposedly looking out for all of us. The only problem is that the politicians are looking out much more for the few who are wealthy, at the expense of the rest of us.
The White House announced we will all get an across-the-board tax rebate and a tax rate cut. It sounds very nice and equal, but not everyone will get either. For the taxpaying majority, earning up to $60,000 per year, the maximum tax rebate would be $600, if you are married or $300 if you are single. But over 60 million taxpayers will get LESS than the full amount. And there are millions of lower paid workers who will get nothing at all. On the other hand, a couple earning $500,000 will see their taxes cut by $23,000!
They say we are no longer going to pay estate taxes, which sounds like a good deal. But if you died right now and left your family less than $675,000 in all your goods and property, your family would pay no inheritance taxes as the law currently stands. Under the old law, only the very wealthiest families had to pay any inheritance tax. The new tax law now does away with all inheritance taxes. The average tax savings will be six million dollars per family. Of course, not many families own enough that they would have paid six million dollars in estate taxes!
Washington says that parents will gain more child tax credits. Over the next 10 years, the amount a parent can deduct for children under 17 rises from the current $500 to $1000 per child. But the way the new law is written, there will be very little change for the majority. And the lowest paid workers with children will see no benefit at all. On the other hand, taxpayers earning between $110,000 and $250,000 will get most of the benefits, since this tax credit is now to be extended to them.
In other words, the politicians give more money to the wealthiest people, while they ignore the real needs of the majority–all the while bragging about what they are doing for us.