Posted on 07/09/2003 1:19:16 PM PDT by samiam1972
I'm among the millions of men and women being shafted by the Bush administration.
Under the Bush administration's new tax law, families whose taxable income is more than $26,625 will see an increase in the Child Tax Credit of $400 for a total of $1,000. They will get a check in the mail for the difference this summer.
For working families whose taxable income is between $10,500 and $26,625, it's still being debated as to when and if they will receive the credit after they were left out of the bill the first time.
At the same time, the entire tax bill is expected to return an average of $90,000 a year to people making more than a million dollars a year. Not to mention the fact that most of the members of Congress stand to make a windfall from the tax cuts on dividends. But families earning less than $10,500 like mine will remain ineligible for any part of the child tax credit.
My situation is like millions of women around the country. While we work, go to school and care for our children, we often don't get paid well. My dream is to give back to my community by working in social services like being a probation officer. I have lived a tough life and know how trying it is when there is no one to lend a helping hand in difficult circumstances.
Being in human services will allow me to be that helping hand for other families and children facing hard times. I'm going to school full time to complete my associate's degree. This means I bring home $5,600 a year, since I can work only part time. Student loans help pay some expenses, but it still is not enough.
It hurts when my 8-year-old daughter wants to go to the movies or even have a meal at McDonald's and I have to say, "No, Mommy can't afford it." If I had gotten a tax cut, I would spend it on the mountain of bills that face me. Like millions of other working people, I would have put that money right back into the economy.
(Unlike many millionaires, who will most likely put their $90,000 refund in the bank or spend it on stocks or campaign contributions to keep those tax cuts coming.)
The deficit caused by this tax cut is already being felt in states around the country. In Ohio, we had to cut back Head Start programs and medical expenses, leaving millions of children without early education and medical insurance.
It seems shortsighted. The expenses our country will have to pay by not healing ill children and providing a quality education at an early age will be counted not only in dollars, but also in the pain of impoverished human lives.
Twelve million kids, including 1 million military children, are being penalized because their parents are teachers, social workers or in the armed forces. When the president and Congress ignore us, we are being told that our children aren't as valuable as kids who come from families making more than we do. We are told that our children are not worth a tax credit, even though we work and pay taxes like everyone else.
When all the dust settles, I hope our congressional leaders will stop placing higher value on a child from a rich family over my daughter because I am poor.
I'd like to believe that another world is possible, a world where we have equal opportunity, and one child is not favored over another because of skin color or wealth.
Gaffin is a part of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Community Change's Real Voices project and a volunteer at Catholic Social Services. The center, the first project of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Fund, is an advocacy nonprofit and think tank.
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