A bright future
Folks who have followed my blog know that I was, to put it mildly, pretty rough on Rep. Doug McKillip during the 2006 election. Hindsight, however, is 20-20, and it's safe to say there's been few elected officials over the past year or so who have so effectively proven me wrong.
McKillip has proven to be a solid legislator, albeit one going through the understandable learning curve all first-term politicians endure, and has consistently pushed not only a progressive agenda, but one which is supportive and reflective of the constituency he represents. Granted, it's been difficult to get success since it's a partisan environment controlled by Republicans, but McKillip has been diligently stubborn in advocating for a state Earned Income Tax Credit. He's emerged as an advocate for cautious development and renovation on Jekyll Island. He's one of the most responsive politicians I've encountered (and, in full fairness, so has been State Sen. Bill Cowsert).
McKillip has all the tools to become one of the state's top Democratic legislators, and I think he's faced with a rare opportunity to assert himself as a leader. His Earned Income Tax Credit plan has the real potential to become a central piece in a possible alternative tax reform plan. He has the chance to become a real voice against the Glenn Tax, particularly in a time when too few Democrats in the Georgia General Assembly aren't speaking out forcefully enough against such a wildly unpopular proposal (the exception, of course, being Virgil Flood).
In a time when we're searching for new voices, McKillip has the chance to take the lead. I'm hopeful he does.
McKillip has proven to be a solid legislator, albeit one going through the understandable learning curve all first-term politicians endure, and has consistently pushed not only a progressive agenda, but one which is supportive and reflective of the constituency he represents. Granted, it's been difficult to get success since it's a partisan environment controlled by Republicans, but McKillip has been diligently stubborn in advocating for a state Earned Income Tax Credit. He's emerged as an advocate for cautious development and renovation on Jekyll Island. He's one of the most responsive politicians I've encountered (and, in full fairness, so has been State Sen. Bill Cowsert).
McKillip has all the tools to become one of the state's top Democratic legislators, and I think he's faced with a rare opportunity to assert himself as a leader. His Earned Income Tax Credit plan has the real potential to become a central piece in a possible alternative tax reform plan. He has the chance to become a real voice against the Glenn Tax, particularly in a time when too few Democrats in the Georgia General Assembly aren't speaking out forcefully enough against such a wildly unpopular proposal (the exception, of course, being Virgil Flood).
In a time when we're searching for new voices, McKillip has the chance to take the lead. I'm hopeful he does.
posted by Jmac at 9:29 AM
4 Comments:
I too was surprised at how much grief you were giving him during the election season.
While admitting that I am not up on the details of McKillip's proposal, I hope that it is not a state-level version of the federal EITC.
The latter is not so much of a tax credit as it is an income redistribution mechanism (frequently giving a tax "credit" to those who do not have a tax liability).
Okay. I looked up the provisions of HB 10. Setting aside philosophical arguments about whether this is a good idea or not, my specific concern is addressed by Section B, which states:
"In no event shall the total amount of the tax credit under this Code section for a taxable year exceed the taxpayer´s income tax liability. Any unused tax credit shall be allowed to be carried forward to apply to the taxpayer´s succeeding years´ tax liability. No such tax credit shall be allowed the taxpayer against prior years´ tax liability."
The first part, that of the credit not exceeding the liability is good - at least folks will not be getting "refunds" on taxes they did not owe (as happens at the federal level). Regarding the second part, I'm not so sure about carrying the credit over from one year to the next.
The only problem I have with this is that it, like most safety nets, are only available to those who have kids. What about those of us who knew better than to have children, due to illnesses that run in our family, and still can't get any tax relief?
I think at one point the federal eidc was available to single folks, I think I even benefited from it at one point. But unless I'm misunderstanding the state proposal, I don't think it's possible.
Shouldn't we de-incentivize having kids we can't afford? And reward those who are trying to make it, by continuing to work for poverty level wages?
I bet a lot of folks could use that refund to buy some kind of health insurance.
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