So THIS is where my tax dollars go?
Subtitle: I want a honeymoon, too!
I debated whether or not I was going to post this, as some of my IRL friends (this time I have to make the differentiation) have the URL for this site, but I decided I don't really fucking care if it gets back to the people it's about. They should know how much what they're "entitled to" pisses other people off.
A couple of our friends are getting married soon, and on Friday night, one of them was bragging about their upcoming honeymoon. They're going to a beautiful country in Central America for a week. Now, I normally would be quite happy for them, but I can't help being supremely annoyed, seeing as they barely had a pot to pee in all year, and both of them were unemployed for quite a few months (at one point, they were both unemployed at the same time). How can they afford to go on an exotic honeymoon, you ask?
Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit
Yes my friends, these people are each getting and extra $600 back from the Federal government this year for having a child (they each have one - and the Child Tax Credit isn't a reduction in taxable INCOME, it's a reduction in actual taxes - so if you'd normally get $400 back, just have a kid and you'll get $1,000 back) and they both sat on their ass for half the year, making them both eligible for Earned Income Tax Credit.
I worked my ass off all year and couldn't even afford a hotel room on my freaking wedding night let alone a honeymoon, but two people who sat on their ass all year, who don't even have fucking CUSTODY of their kids get to claim them on their tax return and use the "earnings" to go to Central America for a WEEK?!?! On the tax money that MY hard work pays in?!?!?!
Your tax dollars at work, ladies and gents
First of all, you get the Child Tax Credit because you have a CHILD, not so you can travel around the world. Why wouldn't you put that money toward something that will benefit the CHILD? I fail to see how a vacation benefits your child. Second, the Earned Income Tax Credit was designed to help low wage earners stay on their feet, not take a fucking vacation. Maybe you'd stay on your feet a little better if you used your sudden windfall to pay off your mountain of debt incurred when your lazy asses were UNEMPLOYED.
One day, I was hanging out with the bride-to-be, and she was complaining about money was tight because she didn't have a job. I tried to be constructive and suggested any number of places she could apply, and she shrugged them all off as being BENEATH her (especially the local convenience store, which pays over $8.00 an hour), even when I tried to reason with her that $8.00 an hour was better than nothing. Ironically, she's now working as a $7.00 an hour bank teller because when she finally broke down and decided that the convenience store was no longer beneath her, they were no longer hiring.
As if you can't tell, I'm PISSED. Let's go over this again. I work my ass off to make sure we can pay the bills (sometimes working overtime to to do so) but couldn't even afford a hotel room on our wedding night, but there's people who can sit on their ass for 6 months and go to Central America for a week. Oy.
Posted by beenie at March 10, 2003 12:27 PM