Mitt Romney has a plan to give parents up to $15,000 a year

[haele]

68. If this is a stimulus payment to help parents with raising children, I am good with that.

However, the bill talks about a claw back at tax time, hitting parents and guardians with up to $15K a year added to the taxes? That's not a stimulus, that's a tax credit that is being refunded universally, not taking into effect the actual household taxable income, in monthly manner and eligibility will be determined at tax time for that year, similar to EIC. If the credit is based on EIC applicability, which it is sort of written as if it is, that means that any household with taxable income over $50K a year may be facing an additional $5K to $15K tax bill for that year.
My concern is that this is written so poorly that while it helps low income families, other families above the median income are going to have to hire a tax accountant to figure out how to set up their exemptions so they won't be stuck with a sudden nasty surprise they can't afford when they do their taxes, and that $150 per kid they would be getting as a tax credit will have to be offset by paying an extra $150 a month federal income tax per kid, so it would end up being both a paperwork burden and not providing any income benefit, even for household incomes under six figures annually - those households this is supposed to help.


It isn't clearly addressed as to what "Tax Brackets" this clawback would happen, nor how it would be determined. But that clawback is there, and won't help families making over the limits that are yet to be determined.

People need help. But is this the optimal way to help the most while adversely impacting the fewest, even if the impact is being pushed out to "at a later date"?

There needs to be more discussion than "Hell yeah, great idea" (which, to a point, this is...) and then just hand out that money without looking at the small print on how the program will actually work.

Forgive me if I don't trust anything from Mittens. He has a nasty habit of hiding some very sharp shivs behind his gravitas and earnest attempts at governance.

Haele