credits

A tale of two health care plans. Obamacare was put together behind closed doors and was only released to the public when it was a finished product. As Pelosi said, we have to pass it to find out what’s in it. The Democrats voted for a plan they had not read and had no idea what it cost. They were roundly criticized for this. Part one of the Republican health care plan has been released and it is getting plenty of scrutiny from all sides. They didn’t do this because they wanted this to be transparent but because they wanted it to be part of a reconciliation bill which means it only requires a simple majority for approval. This means they can just cut spending for Obamacare. The next parts of the Republican plan will be subject to filibuster and this will slow things down considerably. In general the public wants openness but they don’t like watching the sausage being made and there will be changes as the negotiations continue. One of the main sticking points for Republicans is the tax credits. In the past Republicans have been against such things on principal but many think they were wrong on the earned income credit. For those not familiar with the tax law, in the past if a person on welfare went to work they would lose some or all of their benefits depending on how much they earned. The government decided it could not allow people to continue welfare after they went to work set up the earned income credit. A low income working family can now receive up to $6,000 per year as a reward for working. With welfare they were punished for working. Sometimes tax credits make sense and before they are dismissed out of hand things should be looked at more closely. Perhaps this tax credit is one of those times.