It seems that my wife and I are going to be getting $600 from
the United States government. We didn't ask for it, and we
don't want it. But we had over $12,000 in taxable income, so
we get it.
Meanwhile, some 35 million wage-earning, tax-paying Americans
will receive much less than that $600 figure.
Why? Because they
earn less than $30,000.
The tax rebate for a married-filing-jointly tax filer is 5% of
the first $12,000 of taxable income. To have $12,000 in
taxable income -- after up to $18,500 in deductions -- you
must be over $30,000 in total income. That leaves out 35
million low income Americans.
I keep reading about how
people are either excited about their rebates or disappointed
that they are not enough. What about those of us who are
disgusted to be receiving a rebate at all? Shouldn't this
money be going to fund the services that Bush is cutting?
We at the Monkeyfist Collective propose to give the money back
to the people who should be getting it: the poorest Americans,
who work hard and pay taxes but won't be getting a rebate.
We have assembled the following list of organizations that
provide essential services -- which the government does not --
to poor Americans. We suggest that you give some portion of
your rebate to one or all of them. Or choose some others.
After all, as the President likes to say, it's your
money, right?
After you've distributed your rebate to its worthy recipient,
why not send our President an email to let him
know?