Dear Editor:
Last Saturday U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer had this to say about helping families: "Full disclosure: I did not support this change, and I voted against the bill it was in. It causes confusion for families and creates unnecessary difficulties the IRS cannot handle." He forgot to mention how receiving a check in the mail or discovering a deposit in your bank account would cause confusion, or why it creates unnecessary difficulties for the IRS. He erroneously stated: "Families making less than $150,000 and single parents making less than $112,500 qualify for the additional 2021 Child Tax Credit amounts." According to the Treasury Department website, "a taxpayer will qualify for the full amount if they have an adjusted gross income of up to $75,000 for singles and married persons filing a separate return, up to $112,500 for heads of household, and up to $150,000 for married couples filing joint returns." Is this misinformation done by accident or is he deliberately being deceptive? I think it's the latter. The expansion of the child tax credit will substantially reduce child poverty by supplementing the earnings of families receiving the tax credit, now, not next year. It almost appears as if he is against helping American families that aren't millionaires.
Claiming full disclosure does not really entail full disclosure. The congressman was only following the orders of his troop leader, Kevin McCarty, and we all know who's bossing him around. The guy whose company was recently indicted on numerous federal law violations. Full disclosure would be admitting that every member of his political party voted against assisting families. Additionally, the American Rescue Plan had supplementary money for law enforcement and small business, both of which he often pretends to champion.
Full disclosure would also entail admitting current negotiations in Congress entailed a withdrawal of additional funding for the IRS. The Associated Press reported on July 18 that U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, "who is involved in negotiating the bill, cited "pushback" from fellow Republican lawmakers who dislike the idea of expanding the reach of the IRS, which they have accused over the years of unfairly targeting conservatives." If you change the word conservatives to criminals, it would probably be a more accurate statement. Why does our congressman dislike families, police, small businesses and tax cheats?