Letters, 8/7: Press senators to help kids
Congress left some unfinished jobs on the table last week before it left for recess. A comprehensive tax extender bill failed 51-43 to get the required votes to move forward on July 30. Sen. Ben Nelson voted for and Sen. Chuck Hagel voted against the motion to cease debate and consider the bill.
This bill included a much-needed improvement to the Child Tax Credit (CTC). This important anti-poverty tax provision is designed to lessen the impact of income taxes for families with children by offering a tax credit for middle- and low-income families.
People with at least one qualifying child who file federal tax returns can get a CTC of as much as $1,000 for each child.
The problem is that in order to qualify for the CTC, a family must have a minimum income of $12,050, leaving out some of our neediest families.
As a first step in making the CTC fairer and simpler, Congress should lower the minimum income threshold to $8,500 and then freeze it (“de-index” it to inflation). This would benefit almost 66,000 kids in Nebraska.
The full House already passed a tax extender bill on May 21 (263-160) that also would lower the CTC earned income threshold to $8,500 for 2008. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry voted against it. Congress will try again to pass a tax extender bill in September.
Calls to Hagel and Nelson urging them to pass a responsible tax bill that includes an $8,500 minimum income threshold for the Child Tax Credit would be most helpful, because the ball is in the Senate’s court. Of course asking Fortenberry to vote for working families at the next opportunity also would be helpful.
Carita Baker, Lincoln
Eliminate tax on clothing
We were glad to see the Nebraska Retail Federation make some noise last week about Nebraska’s need to institute a countermeasure to Iowa’s sales tax holiday in order to prevent Nebraska dollars from bleeding out of the state.
While there have been marginal legislative attempts lately to accomplish such desires, we would like to see discussions built more around the premise of a permanent elimination of sales tax on clothing as opposed to some of the temporary and complicated solutions brought forward in the past. As a state, we need to move beyond trying to simply match what our neighbors are doing and become aggressive in lowering our overall tax burden and increasing our competitiveness in drawing money into our borders.
Permanently exempting clothing purchases from sales tax, like Minnesota and four other states, could spark sustained economic growth here in Nebraska by giving us a competitive advantage over states with which we share a border.
Berk Brown, editor, Platte Institute for Economic Research
Put ’em to work
Kudos to the alternative sentence program. Sometimes those incarcerated learn more skills in jail from more hardened criminals, and those skills are not in the positive. Some of the more minor offenders could be mowing parks, picking up trash in parks, cleaning up storm debris, thus offsetting costs to the city, county and state.
Further, during the Depression, people had to work to achieve certain benefits, such as housing and utility assistance. Some swept streets, built bridges, etc. This kept people busy, resulted in less crime and established a sense of self-worth.
Joyce Perry, Lincoln
This bill included a much-needed improvement to the Child Tax Credit (CTC). This important anti-poverty tax provision is designed to lessen the impact of income taxes for families with children by offering a tax credit for middle- and low-income families.
People with at least one qualifying child who file federal tax returns can get a CTC of as much as $1,000 for each child.
The problem is that in order to qualify for the CTC, a family must have a minimum income of $12,050, leaving out some of our neediest families.
As a first step in making the CTC fairer and simpler, Congress should lower the minimum income threshold to $8,500 and then freeze it (“de-index” it to inflation). This would benefit almost 66,000 kids in Nebraska.
The full House already passed a tax extender bill on May 21 (263-160) that also would lower the CTC earned income threshold to $8,500 for 2008. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry voted against it. Congress will try again to pass a tax extender bill in September.
Calls to Hagel and Nelson urging them to pass a responsible tax bill that includes an $8,500 minimum income threshold for the Child Tax Credit would be most helpful, because the ball is in the Senate’s court. Of course asking Fortenberry to vote for working families at the next opportunity also would be helpful.
Carita Baker, Lincoln
Eliminate tax on clothing
We were glad to see the Nebraska Retail Federation make some noise last week about Nebraska’s need to institute a countermeasure to Iowa’s sales tax holiday in order to prevent Nebraska dollars from bleeding out of the state.
While there have been marginal legislative attempts lately to accomplish such desires, we would like to see discussions built more around the premise of a permanent elimination of sales tax on clothing as opposed to some of the temporary and complicated solutions brought forward in the past. As a state, we need to move beyond trying to simply match what our neighbors are doing and become aggressive in lowering our overall tax burden and increasing our competitiveness in drawing money into our borders.
Permanently exempting clothing purchases from sales tax, like Minnesota and four other states, could spark sustained economic growth here in Nebraska by giving us a competitive advantage over states with which we share a border.
Berk Brown, editor, Platte Institute for Economic Research
Put ’em to work
Kudos to the alternative sentence program. Sometimes those incarcerated learn more skills in jail from more hardened criminals, and those skills are not in the positive. Some of the more minor offenders could be mowing parks, picking up trash in parks, cleaning up storm debris, thus offsetting costs to the city, county and state.
Further, during the Depression, people had to work to achieve certain benefits, such as housing and utility assistance. Some swept streets, built bridges, etc. This kept people busy, resulted in less crime and established a sense of self-worth.
Joyce Perry, Lincoln
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