The election is over, and it’s time for Congress to get down to business.
We know that the U.S. economy is getting better. The country added 171,000 jobs last month, but recovery is slow. Recent census data show that median household income is down, and income inequality has widened. In Maine, the number of unemployed people increased by 43 percent since 2007, and median income has declined by 7.7 percent — a drop of more than $1,500 over the last five years. That means less money in the pockets of working families to pay for food, housing, clothes and other necessities.
One thing is clear: Low-income, working families and their children should not take a hit when Congress returns next week to take up the pending expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts.
What a cruel joke it would be if Congress were to extend tax breaks for the richest among us but fail to extend critical tax credits that help working families hold their own. What Congress should do is allow tax cuts for the richest 2 percent to expire, extend tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 and extend the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit to help working families keep their jobs, contribute to the local economy and stay out of poverty.
The importance of the tax credits to working families cannot be overstated. These improvements almost exclusively help working people who earn $50,000 or less and have helped push back against the stagnant wages and reduced opportunity facing low-income families who are trying hard to do the right thing to take care of their families.
The Earned Income Tax Credit has been hailed as the federal government’s most successful anti-poverty tool. The 2009 expansion for families with more than two children strengthened its effectiveness by acknowledging the increasing financial need of larger families and targeting tax relief accordingly. Yet, if the 2009 improvements expire due to Congressional inaction, more than 15 million children could either lose the credit entirely or see a significant reduction in the amount their family receives.
The Child Tax Credit helps more than 35 million families each year meet their children’s basic needs and kept 1.4 million children out of poverty in 2010. If Congress fails to act, however, the credit will be cut in half — from a maximum of $1,000 per child down to $500 — and the qualifying income threshold will rise significantly, denying access to families with the lowest incomes.
Together, these credits kept almost 5 million children out of poverty across the country. Leading researchers at Citizens for Tax Justice estimate that 344,485 families in New England, with 635,081 children, would be negatively affected if these credits are allowed to expire. In Maine, 35,042 families, with 64,730 children, would lose a total of $21.5 million, or about $613 per family.
In Maine, 49,000 children live in poverty, and that number has increased 23 percent over the past five years. And another 19 percent (59,000) of Maine children live in low-income families and are at risk of falling into poverty. The refundable tax credits are essential to the economic stability of many families. They help keep tens of thousands of Maine children out of poverty by rewarding work and giving families the support they need.
Working families are the backbone of the economy in Maine and across the country. Our congressional leaders must take action to extend these important tax credits in order to help working families keep working, provide for their children and stay out of poverty.
Ned McCann is executive director of the Maine Children’s Alliance, based in Augusta.
The screaming that Obama did for 4 years about getting rid of the EVIL BUSH TAX CUTS and this story want’s to keep them. LOL!!! WOW!!!.. The Evil Bush gave everyone a tax break..How come the Liberal media never covered that.. hahaha!!!
I say let them expire, let see what washington can do with an additional Trillion a year in revenue.. I know they couldn’t save a dime if they tried…
I remember when John Baldacci came into office and thought he had a 150 millon dollar surplus, The liberals in Augusta were fighting over where they could spend it all. There was a fight over every last dime.hehehe!!! Then John found out the State was in the hole a billion dollars and was shocked that Angus lett him with old bills.hehehe!!!.. Now you put Angus in as Senator hahaha!!!. If Someone were to write a fiction novel on how disfunctional Washington was, nobody would buy it, thinking it was made up.
I agree for the most part except on one point. Letting the tax cuts expire will not bring in a trillion dollars.
Ha! Ha! HA !
LOL !
WOW! Your Being Hysterical!
It must come from Denial that your Philosophy– “Lost the Election””!
Most People Figured out that the Tax and Spend Liberal Label is just a “Smoke Screen” diversion for the Borrow and Spend Conservative Neocon Agenda!
Take two Tax Cut- Pills and call back in four years!
LoL!
You say borrow and spend is a conservative agenda yet Obama has borrowed and spent $4 trillion more than was taken in in his first four years. How is that different?
That trillion has been adding 1 trillion a year every year to the deficit that YOU have been endlessly screaming about ! hahaha .It also created that 47% that YOU like to bash hahaha. GET it ? that would be $8 trilliion of BUSH’s $11 trillion deficit and $4 trillion of Obama’s $5 trillion in debt. GET IT , yet??
You have been sold a bill of goods, a rotten bill of goods at that. Tax cuts are not ‘”free’; they go on the credit card. Someone has to pay for them. In this case the grand kids the right say they are soooo worried about .
“We know that the U.S. economy is getting better. The country added 171,000 jobs last month, but recovery is slow.”
People get sooo excited about 171k jobs created in a month… never stopping to think an economy needs about 250k just to break even with population growth.
I recall a Bill Clinton economy that created 800k jobs two months in a row.
Why do people cheer mediocrity?
“Why do people cheer mediocrity?”
The other option is Transgression!
There is another option, real growth… but then you folks would lose elections if people were actually allowed to prosper.
Agreed, the best option is real growth. Look at Germany. They practically carry the rest of the EU. They can do this for two main reasons. One, they export more than they import. Two, Germans buy German. A country with our capacity for manufacturing and agriculture should never have a trade deficit, period. We need to turn “free” trade into fair trade and gain some patriotism at the cash register. These two simple acts would turn our economy around faster than anything they are going to do in Washington. We need to quit waiting for bought and paid for politicians, on both sides of the aisle, to have the guts and patriotism to say no to big money.
What an ugly and cynical attitude to have. Hate and rooting for failure — more reasons why you guys lost massively last week.
Not rooting for failure …. rooting for opportunity to succeed.
You are rooting for failure and you have a disgustingly cynical idea of what motivates those you disagree with and that’s sad for you.
I make no such statements.
Yes, you did and you do, constantly. Too cowardly to stand by what you say though when pressed.
well if that guy who threatened to close the plant if obama was elected and instead gave his workers a raise, is any indication , then prosperity is just around the corner.
Let me suggest a twisted alternative: Big corporation have been sitting on a ton of money. which is to say there is all this pent up “economy” just waiting be spent and invested.The only thing besides “loyalty to an agenda” that has kept them from spending it is “uncertainty”. Well that “uncertainty ” is over and they are sick of just sitting on that money , just to prove some stupid political point !!!
And then you have the banks ( or the financial sector– the ones we bailed out) who placed all their bets in one basket by almost solely contributing to Romney ‘s campaign. That is totally UNHEARD OF. They usually give a little more to one side or the other but hedge their bets .They didn’t do that this time. They SOLELY backed ROMNEY .THAT WAS A BIG MISTAKE that probably has them shaking in their boots.
Then add to the fact that their are a whole lot of lawsuits in the wings just waiting to be filed — regarding the economy crashing in 2008 — They haven’t been filed yet out of fear of the reprecussion to the still fragile economy.
That also has them shaking in their boots The suit has been filed against JP Morgan just before the election.
THEY have been sitting on alot of credit requests for small business …. keeping them from growing. I’d say they might start being a bit more “cooperative” on those requests.— unleashing a ton of of small business loans This dangerous game of political chicken is OVER!!!
So there is a lot of pent up energy( and Money) ready to explode onto the economy. YES there will be a few who will stay the course and whine. THEY will be left behind and will rather quickly put self interest ahead of 4 years of nasty revenge. Just MY prediction .
Romney said a very interesting thing at one of his campaign stops. It might have been in that 47% video .It really stuck with me and was even more important then the 47% comment. It spoke volumes of the R strategy and Romney “work ethic “. What he said was: ” I will NOT have to do ANYTHING for the economy to recover ( heck I don’t even have to work ‘at it”) . The day after I am elected the economy will be unleashed”
“Why do people cheer mediocrity?” Because it is better then what was happening before— an economy that was cratering and LOOSING 600,000 jobs a month . No it isn’t where we need to be, BUT it is moving in the right direction and it is better then the alternative.
Gee did you see that guy who threatened to close down his plant, retire and and fire all employees , if obama was elected ? INSTEAD he gave all employees a 5% raise.!!!
Source please!!
The Earned Income Tax Credit is great for those how actually use the money for needs. However, I know of a family who spent their money on a trip to Disney and a big screen TV, then wondered how to pay their bills.
That’s small potatoes, I know a Governor who cut taxes across the board in Maine with NO idea how to pay the bills, thus declaring a crisis in Medicare in Maine!
Check your facts. There was no medicare crisis. Unless you mean the $700 billion Obama stole from the program.
just another conservative lie—
Well – ABC News fact checks this fabrication that continues to be regurgitated by conservative political operatives … they say it’s false HERE:
So does it “cut” Medicare by $500 billion?Medicare spending will continue to grow, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), but ACA will slow that growth. According to a report from the Kaiser Family Health Foundation over the next 10 years, the federal government will devote about $500 billion less to Medicare than it would have without ACA.CMS and the Kaiser Family Foundation tell ABC News that there will be no benefit cuts to Medicare. They say instead of Medicare’s being cut, there will be much more spending at the end of a 10-year window, but it does slow the rate of that growth. This is all unless Congress makes drastic changes to Medicare, for example passing House Budget Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare Plan.CMS says—and Kaiser agrees—that spending will be reduced by getting rid of fraud and ending overpayments to private insurance companies. It sends a message to those insurance companies: Operate more efficiently.
I suppose if you want to call it a cut on this part of the ledger and not on the other…that will work. When is a cut not really a cut??
But as I said to Dlbrt and you missed it as well as him…. There is no Medicare crisis as he asserts.
Typical conservative spinning and dishonesty from you.
Do any of you “posters” understand the difference between MEDICARE & MEDICAID?
Can you folks read?????
I obviously can read — I have to spend a lot of time reading the spin and irrelevant replies coming from you.
The why did you (and other posters) confuse Medicare and Medicaid, starting with the first poster in this thread?
I said nothing about Medicaid or Medicare. Nice try, sweetheart.
He eliminate inefficiencies and duplication of effortand returned the savings to the program ..It’s what the R usually LOVE ( until obama does it ).
exactly .There was NO medicaid crisis till Lepage created one to pay for his tax cuts.
GEESH! how dare Gov. LePage try to change things after 40 years under Democratic rule and drag Maine’s people and the economy off the bottom of every economic poll in the country, wanting to make a better place to get a good paying job, instead of a welfare handout!
good one .
How dare they try to sneak in a vacation with the kids to Disney World on a shrinking paycheck? Are they the last ones to hear that working families no longer take vacations or buy big screen T.Vs? I am sure that the kids will remember the hit that Mom and Dad’s credit score took because the mortgage was late, as opposed to any memories of Disney World.
Anyone else know what would help keep working families out of poverty, especially here in Maine? A raise in the minimum wage. OOPS! That might cost some billionaire a few of their precious nickels. Scratch that idea. Let’s keep working on a way to get them out of poverty that doesn’t cost anything.
How about a job, that only those millionares can afford to create. People who keep getting handouts forget how to work. Look at wildlife when you feed them all the time, they become tame and weak and no longer know how to fend for themselves what once their natural instinicts taught them : how to find food in the wilds, which made them strong and independent! Our recent election showed us the new normal: people want handouts not a good paying job. So now we have Hostess workers striking because they don’t want a decrease in pay: their employer apparently can’t stay in business while losing money. Go figure! NBC announced major layoffs today, their propraganda they having been spewing before our national election has brought about their undoing, along with the rest of their followers. America voted & you built this new normal.
Corporate profits have never been higher and CEO compensation has never been higher. This claim that the wealthy are somehow being crushed is a massive lie.
hhmm somehow these real dummies who own businesses are outsmarting Obama’s Marxist attempts? how?
So, the Hostess employees are looking for a handout? It is really quite a coincidence that the survival of every single business always counts on the employees taking a pay cut. Maybe the Hostess employees realize that if their pay goes down while the cost of living continues to climb, they will eventually end up under water. Maybe some other “American” company is making counterfeit Twinkies in China and Hostess needs to cut it’s payroll to compete. Let’s not jump to conclusions.
you dont HAVE to work at Hostess.
Capital gains should get kicked back up to 25% from its absurdly low current 15%.
well said… that is the trickle up economics that the right doesn’t GET Or doesn’t WANT to get .
70% of the economy is CONSUMER spending. When consumers do not spend the economy doesn’t grow. The economy grows from the bottom up; NOT from the top down. It’s econ 101 .When consumers buy, inventory is depleted and needs to be replaced, creating new jobs. With consumers out of work and loosing half if not all their credit ; consumer spending has taken a BIG hit., putting even more out of work like a falling deck of cards . BOTH sides of the political spectrum seem to be totally ignoring this proven reality( straight out of Adam Smith, by the way)
The same math can be applied to Lepage and the rights’ foolish cuts to medicaid for the WORKING poor . I emphasize the word WORKING for a reason. When the working poor do not have medical coverage , those cost come out of pocket. That is money that ISN’T spent on other things like —-groceries. Remember last week’ s annnouncement of 400 jobs cuts at Shaws??
IN ‘bad times’ grocery stores are one of the LAST places to take a hit . Why ? Because no matter what—- people STILL have to eat!!! And when they can’t even afford that basic necessity , then food stamp supplements the income. When food stamps get cut —CONGRESS has NOT passed the farm bill which includes food stamps ( for ideological reasons –R’s “hate”, resent and want to punish the poor) —- there is a trickle down effect— like the loss of 400 JOBS .Unfortunately, in bad times, “welfare” boosts the economy— like Shaw’s and medical services. Less money spent on medicaid mean less money available to spend on groceries.
and taxes have NEVER been LOWER..The highest tax rate under Reagan was 50% It’s now 35%.
Why don’t we pull back the phony liberal veil and just finish the job this turd of an election revealed – let’s just give everything to anyone who wants it and doesn’t want to work for it. Everything free in Maine and everything free in America. Over 50% want free stuff and want we, the workers to pay for it. I have a neighbor who says he gets a check each month because he is “depressed”. He receives nearly $35,000 a year in free housing, money, and food. And, he could work. I told him I get depressed too, as I work 80 hours a week in my small business, and the government sqaunders my hard earned money on these layabouts. His reply “it’s not enough, I need more.” Then he goes back to the couch to watch his DISH TV and I go back to work. The gravy train can’t last forever, Emily Cain, B. Obama and all libs – it WILL end. At least I know how to work for a living but it will be a big shock to the layabouts and do-nothings know as Democrat voters.
I know, I know, I am ssooo mean. Well, liberal men, put that long gray hair in a ponytail, roll up a fattie, and chill. Bush lied people died. If you’re an Obama throne sniffer you’ll hate me. But people who get up, bathe and work for a living, and don’t expect a damn thing from Uncle Government will understand.
Are you so willfully ignorant that you’re going to pretend that half the country doesn’t work and that that half were the ones voting for Obama? That’s insane.
exactly —-the rates should be reversed for work and investment .
The economy is certainly getting better. I guess the writer hasn’t heard yet about all the businesses who are announcing layoffs. 171K new jobs? What a laugh, that isn’t 1/2 of what is needed just to cover new people just entering the work force. The only ones who seem to think the economy is really hunky dory are the recipient class….they still are getting their freebies and need not worry.
“The issue isn’t just jobs. Even slaves had jobs. The issue is wages.” — Jim Hightower
Cheap labor has become a VERY expensive entitlement for taxpayers to subsidize our so-called “job creators”.
That’s what happens with you have tax rates that are near double for labor than what they are for capital.