Cutting the bootstraps for the poor

Hoping this is a typo, but Matt says the SOTU preview has this tiny problematic proposal:

[T]he president is calling on Congress to nearly double the child care tax credit for families earning less than $85,000 — a proposal that, if adopted, would lower by $900 the taxes such families owe to the government. But the credit would not be refundable, meaning that families would not get extra money back on a tax refund.

Admit the difference was lost on me, but as Matt explains it, it won't be of any benefit to poor people and it's exactly the opposite of what the administration said during the transition. Of course, only DFHs and other "far left" liberals care about poor people, so maybe it's a brilliant political move to throw low income taxpayers to the wolves. Certainly, the AP summary of the speech doesn't seem concerned about the non-refundable part and unless the tradmed decides to make it an issue, probably most people won't even notice.

Nonetheless, I can't imagine how this is going to help poor people break the cycle of poverty. Decent daycare is the key that allows low income parents improve their employment status.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]