Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner has been outspoken in his opposition to the tax rebate checks being proposed. He voted against the bill that passed in the House of Representatives.
He has been speaking out on radio as well as in a Small Business Times Blog that appeared yesterday. His position is that there should be no checks sent for several reasons:
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First, the checks, if finally issued, will not hit the pockets of recipients until late-May to June, long after the impact in the marketplace would be desireable.
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Second, past rebates of this nature have been proved to have had little beneficial impact on the economy since the bulk of the money didn't find its way into the economy.
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Third, some $10 Billion of the total amount would be sent to those who paid little or no taxes in the first place.
Sensenbrenner's position, instead, is that we could get a much bigger 'bang for the buck' if the IRS would simply forgive withholding from our paychecks for a month or two. The value to the economy would be felt immediately, the money would be going to those who pay taxes in a proportionate way, and the government wouldn't have to borrow money to use to cover the checks that would be mailed.
Former Gov. Dreyfus was faced with a similar situation early in his term and ended state withholding for a period of time. That did have a beneficial impact on the state's economy at the time.
Of course, there are some reasons why this won't happen:
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Uncle can't afford to have taxpayers realize just how much is being held out of their paychecks, because they could face a taxpayer uprising as the result.
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Liberals can't permit this because they are interested in redistributing income to continue to attract the votes of those who'll get money back without having paid much if anything in.
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And, liberals cannot stand the thought that 'the rich' would ever get a break. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada) was quoted as saying a few days ago that this thought "makes me want to gag."
Thanks for standing up on this and the immigration issue Jim! You may be a little lonely, but you're right!
