Every time the big spending autocrats want to spend more taxpayer money to gain greater political control of the populace, they come up with very nice sounding programs. The money is to help the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the single parent, education for toddlers, advanced education, crime victims, underpaid teachers, union workers, etc., etc., etc.
Of course, they also like to create what I call the “affluent dependent class” with money for professors, favored businesses, subsidies, real estate developers, industrial farms, etc., etc., etc.
Virtually all that money is spent to buy votes – and there is usually a lot of mischief in how the money is delivered, used, wasted, and embezzled. The big spenders on the left do not care if you are cheating – or gaming the system – because the crooks will also support those providing even that ill-gotten money.
Democrats are all over the media whining about the opposition to the misnamed and hugely expensive Child Tax Credit. While the money goes to families with children – or at least to those claiming to have children. (And yes, we have more than enough examples of people conning the system by falsely claiming their non-existent children. But that is only one element of the overall problem.)
For all practical purposes, the Child Tax Credit is not directed to the child – or children. It is simply a grant to the family – a grant totally controlled by the parents. There is no obligation to spend any of that money on the children.
The left jumped all over West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin for arguing that parents could even use the money to buy drugs. If some parents are doing drugs and desperate for the money to finance the habit, you can bet your nickel bag that they will use the money for drugs … or alcohol … or obsessive buying on the Shoppers Network. Not every parent is a paragon of virtue.
MSNBC’s Katy Tur suggested that Manchin was insulting the people of his home state – especially, she said, since West Virginia has a major opioid problem. Whoa! Am I missing the logic here? Tur blasts Manchin for suggesting that the Child Tax Credit money might go to drug purchases – and then reveals that there are a large number of addicts in his home state – many of whom would most certainly be parents. Seems to me that Tur was supporting Manchin’s concern.
In addition to no supervisory protection over the misuse of the money there is another problem. The money goes to a lot of parents who have incomes way above the poverty level. These folks might even be called “rich” – capable enough to provide for their children. That is why Manchin wants the money be means-tested.
Then there is the claim that the current Child Tax Credit has taken more than half of the children out of poverty. They claim that by looking at the estimated number of children living in families with incomes below the government poverty level. The added money puts their total income just over the poverty level. What it does, it takes those who have incomes just a smidgeon below the government-determined poverty level and pushes their incomes a smidgeon over the line.
It does not however establish that the children in those families materially benefit from the slight increase in household income. There is nothing in the legislation that requires parental accountability for the money.
Under the proposed legislation, it would be possible for two families with incomes below the poverty level to share an apartment and expenses – providing a household income in excess of the poverty level – and still have both families individually get the money for however many kids are in the home.
One of the reasons Biden and the Democrats decided to pass the Child Tax Credit for only one year was to hide the overall expense. These programs are traditionally extended for ten years because that provides a more realistic cost to the American taxpayer.
The reason they are not doing that is because projecting just the Child Tax Credit out ten years would reveal the enormous budget-busting, deficit spending, National Debt increasing cost. They do not want the Congressional Budget Office to be scoring the ten-year program.
Democrats know that if they had passed a one-year program, they would be making the same arguments next year … and the next year … for the extension of the Child Tax Credit program – just as they are making the plea to extend it today.
Biden & Co. are flagrantly trying to flimflam the American people with this legislative trickery. To understand what the Democrats are doing, just image you bought your house based on your belief that you only had to pay the first-year mortgage. That is another reason Manchin refuses to participate in such shenanigans.
While this commentary dealt with the sham of the so-called Child Tax Credit, there are many, many other provisions in the Build Back Better bill that should be objectionable to any fiscally responsible member of Congress. Thank God that the Democrats have at least one of them.
So, there ‘tis.