A recent New York Times postmortem of the NY-3 special Congressional Election, where old Democratic warhorse Tom Suozzi bested law-and-order Democrat-turned-Republican Mazi Pilip, discussed the strange (to them) phenomenon of people voting against their economic interests.
We cut taxes for the middle and lower class so much I was wondering how it was even possible to give them MORE tax cuts.
Enter: the "Earned Income" Tax Credit - i.e., tax cuts for people who don't even PAY taxes.
This provides even more incentive - as if that were needed - for the "poor" to vote for more largesse from the Treasury. I get the notion that it should be more profitable for someone to work, versus receiving free money from the government. But make welfare and unemployment LESS generous, and that problem goes away all on its own.
The biggest problem for the poor is the welfare gap. Benefits decrease faster than income increases, so people wanting to bust out of dependence need to go through a lean stretch while trying to build their income.
Some might think this was deliberate. Institutionalize poverty, and you ensure the votes of those who rely on your continuing the gravy train.
We cut taxes for the middle and lower class so much I was wondering how it was even possible to give them MORE tax cuts.
Enter: the "Earned Income" Tax Credit - i.e., tax cuts for people who don't even PAY taxes.
This provides even more incentive - as if that were needed - for the "poor" to vote for more largesse from the Treasury. I get the notion that it should be more profitable for someone to work, versus receiving free money from the government. But make welfare and unemployment LESS generous, and that problem goes away all on its own.
The biggest problem for the poor is the welfare gap. Benefits decrease faster than income increases, so people wanting to bust out of dependence need to go through a lean stretch while trying to build their income.
Some might think this was deliberate. Institutionalize poverty, and you ensure the votes of those who rely on your continuing the gravy train.