No Child Credit For Poor As DeLay Plays Politics

Struggling to revive a stalled bill to raise the child tax credit for low-income families, Senate Democrats began a series of parliamentary theatrics today intended to increase pressure on Republicans in both chambers to move the bill.

"My guess is we're going to bring this is up several more times, because it's so important," said Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the Finance Committee's ranking Democrat. "On July 25, a lot of parents are not going to be getting checks they otherwise would have received, and that ironically is the day the House is going out for recess."

Meanwhile DeLay is actually sponsering something I could support with the right package - deducting state sales taxes which were made taxable in an attempt to shame states toward state income taxes. Of course, the GOP has no shame and Houston has a 8.25% tax except for hotels and taxis where it is a lot higher to catch tourists.

Mr. DeLay strongly supports the effort to make sales taxes deductible from federal income taxes, which would primarily benefit residents of the seven states. Sales taxes were deductible until 1986, when Congress and President Ronald Reagan removed the provision, in part to discourage states from relying on sales taxes, which take a larger percentage of household income from the poorest residents.

Reinstating the deductibility of the sales tax would also benefit primarily lower- and middle-income taxpayers who itemize their deductions. The bill circulating in the House would give taxpayers a choice between deducting state sales taxes or state income taxes, whichever is larger. Most taxpayers would determine their deductions from a table based on their income, rather than calculating the exact amount of sales tax they had paid.