There’s plenty to challenge with the tax rebate stimulus idea, but it’s almost but not quite worth the bad policy to see progressives interpret its pros and cons. Two weeks ago Charlie Rangel gave up a supposedly core tenet of this Democratic Congress: “Pay-go is inconsistent with trying to resolve a recession.” Last week, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) issued a brief paper titled, “TAX POLICY CENTER ESTIMATES SHOW FEWER THAN 60 PERCENT OF WORKING HOUSEHOLDS WOULD BENEFIT IN FULL FROM PRESIDENT?S PROPOSED REBATE.”
That’s right, 58 percent of “working households” would get every tax dollar back that is promised to them. Another 16 percent would not get back the full amount advertised because they paid less in taxes, It would be a rebate after all. The remaining 26 percent paid no taxes, so they get no rebate.
I should clarify that I am not accusing CBPP of hypocrisy or inconsistency. The folks there, and their allies in North Carolina, are very consistent in their desire for government’s at all levels to take more in taxes from people with higher incomes and pass it around to those with low or no incomes. They would do the same if they were in charge.
