Mr. Shaman
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2007
- Messages
- 7,829
("Mini", of course, being a relative-term.*)
"I appreciate lower taxes, as do my small-business brethren. And we like being courted by politicians, who woo us because we are part of the American psyche as well as for more practical reasons. Small businesses provided a majority of job growth after each of the past two recessions, creating a million jobs between March 2000 and March 2001, even as firms with more than 500 employees lost 150,000 positions in the same period.
So why don't they offer us what we crave, or, more specifically, why aren't tax cuts the solution?
*The proposed tax cuts reward those who need it least. One of the more expensive provisions is an expansion to five years of the period over which losses can be used to reduce tax payments of profitable years. In other words, if I lost money this year, the package would allow me to reduce my taxes when I do well several years later. But that has value only when I make a profit again, not while I'm struggling to make rent.
A better choice would be something Americans are likely to spend, and without huge logistical headaches: a gift card. By sending every taxpayer a $2,000 debit card, the government stimulates spending directly. The card doesn't get deposited with a bank, a step that greatly reduced the use of last year's rebate checks for new spending, and with a defined expiration time, perhaps a year, the program could help precisely while other programs get underway.
The American Gift Card could bear a picture of Lady Liberty, since it may be used for whatever taxpayers wish: smarter clothes, dinners out, a weekend away, a new heater. And as gift cards tend to be used in person, they are of particular interest to local businesses.
Gift cards have a nationwide redemption rate of 80 percent. If such debit cards were used at the same rate, the cost of the program would be $270 billion, for a greater effect at less cost than the proposed tax breaks."
What could you get done, with a $2,000 bail-out??