Mark Winston Griffith

The morning after April 15th: Voters left with Tax Break hangover

There's a hilarious running joke in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding in which the bride's father prescribes Windex for whatever ails you. Want to zap that zit? Spray it with Windex. Have psoriasis? Treat it with a Windex spritzer.

So too, like most election years, are tax breaks now being sprayed around just as liberally and recklessly. Homeowners with a time bomb mortgage heading for foreclosure? Hit 'em in the eye with a tax break. Need a way to convince voters you have a clue as to how to fix the U.S. economy and avoid a recession? Slip 'em a tax break cocktail.

Like in the movie, it's a boldly ineffective cure-all that requires a suspension of belief and a holding of the nose to administer. Unfortunately, unlike the movie, it's not the least bit funny.

Case in point, last week, the Senate, presented with a golden opportunity to help hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of homeowners with foreclosure bull's-eyes on their foreheads, instead proposed handing out tax cuts, credits and incentives, to everyone but homeowners in distress, like it was government cheese. And this was not a conservative hijacking of the process. Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives alike proposed serving up the moldy cheddar.

And now John McCain is trying to pass out a stinky brew of tax breaks while, as the New York Times noted, "backing away from his pledge to balance the budget by the end of his first term." In a speech delivered on, of course, the deadline for tax filing, McCain decided that out of everyone in the country, corporations need the most help. So he proposed corporate tax cuts.

And you know those irresponsible tax cuts with which Bush saddled the country, the very ones John McCain once opposed, well let's keep them around until eternity, proposes McCain. Even the Wall Street Journal was forced to comment on McCain's wayward proposal to suspend the federal gasoline tax: "There are few tax cuts we don't like, but this one smacks of poll-driven gimmickry."

"Poll-driven gimmickry" just about sums it up. It's a damn shame that thoughtful and effective economic policy is not considered a crowd pleaser.

Mark Winston Griffith: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 8:10 AM, Apr 16, 2008 in Economy
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