Re: RE: RE: Regressivity of FICA and EITC phaseout (Re: Richard Rorty and social security

2000-03-07 Thread Joel Blau
It should be pointed out that we get into these problems of high marginal tax rates and rapid phase-outs because unlike every other country, we try to support families indirectly through the tax code rather than directly through universal family/children allowances. If we are going to spend $85

RE: Re: RE: RE: Regressivity of FICA and EITC phaseout (Re: Richard Rorty and social security

2000-03-07 Thread Max Sawicky
It should be pointed out that we get into these problems of high marginal tax rates and rapid phase-outs because unlike every other country, we try to support families indirectly through the tax code rather than directly through universal family/children allowances. If we are going to spend $85

Re: RE: Re: RE: RE: Regressivity of FICA and EITC phaseout (Re: Richard Rorty and social security

2000-03-07 Thread Joel Blau
This is the classic problem of universalism vs. targeting efficiency, but I'm not sure I come down on the same side you do. On the universalistic side, money for the poor requires, as a kind of informal political blackmail, money for the rich (or at least the more affluent). Targeting focuses the

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: RE: Regressivity of FICA and EITC phaseout (Re: Richard Rorty and social security

2000-03-07 Thread Max Sawicky
This is the classic problem of universalism vs. targeting efficiency, but I'm not sure I come down on the same side you do. On the universalistic side, money for the poor requires, as a kind of informal political blackmail, money for the rich (or at least the more affluent). Targeting focuses the

Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: RE: Regressivity of FICA and EITC phaseout (Re: Richard Rorty and social security

2000-03-07 Thread Joel Blau
Max: Then, you are trying to find a way to do targeting within universalism, and we agree. I thought for a long time that something like what you are doing is the way out of the dilemma I described, so I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with. Joel Blau Max Sawicky wrote: This is

RE: RE: Regressivity of FICA and EITC phaseout (Re: Richard Rorty and social security

2000-03-07 Thread Max Sawicky
On Behalf Of Max Sawicky If you spread $85 billion over all families w/children, the poor would see less than they do now. Here is where I politically disagree with you. If most families with children were given the credit, a larger percentage of them would have no tax liability at all. They

RE: RE: Regressivity of FICA and EITC phaseout (Re: Richard Rorty and social security

2000-03-06 Thread Max B. Sawicky
. . . The problem is if you want to do an earned income tax credit (or a negative income tax), the more you give, the more you have to take away, and the higher the implicit marginal tax rate must be in the take-away zone. If you want a low marginal rate at the bottom, you must dispense