Tax Credit a Bad Idea in the Long Run : While both parties play political games, the end result would force our children to pay more to cover the cost of the growing national debt.

Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats get it. But my Calabasas friends Scott and Juliet do.

Scott and Juliet became the proud parents of Gradey on Jan. 26. They had to work hard for this, their first child: They did Lamaze; they read all the child-care books they could get their hands on; they are totally committed to his welfare. The American Dream of a more secure, more prosperous future for their child resonates with them.

Both work to support the household--she as a nurse and he with a small graphic arts business. They are doing well but still have to struggle to make ends meet. They are definitely members of the middle class.

When they learned that the Republicans wanted to give them a $500 tax credit just for having Gradey they were thrilled about the money and had sweet visions of its use. Scott mentioned it one day when we got to talking about politics and government.

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I couldn’t let their enthusiasm go unchallenged, and I launched into my spiel, describing what their windfall was going to cost Gradey several decades from now.

They had thought that since the Republicans were going to make spending cuts to match the tax cuts, everything would balance out. Then they realized that the tax credit was going to have to be financed with long-term debt issued by the government and that this debt would eventually have to be paid by Gradey and his generation. They were incensed.

Scott and Juliet discovered that right now, as an American, Gradey has a share of the national debt that amounts to $18,500 and that every year $1,400 of his parents’ taxes pays interest on this debt. They had not realized that unless the debt stops growing, by the year 2020 Gradey’s Social Security taxes, instead of being 7.65%, will be a minimum of 30%.

They had not understood that without remedial action, by 2012, 100% of all taxes collected will be needed just to pay entitlements and the interest. That means no federal money for defense, to run the government, to pay for new highways, to help educate our youth and to pay for myriad of our country’s other needs.

Scott and Juliet are not willing to sacrifice their son’s future for the immediate gratification of that tax credit. They are worried that Gradey’s generation will not be able to pay for their parents’ Social Security and that things will be worse for everybody. Scott, who is a Republican, asks why is his party doing this: “I thought they wanted a balanced budget.”

He might have asked why the Democrats are doing the same thing. Why are they sanctimoniously saying we can balance the budget without a balanced-budget amendment, but we certainly cannot touch Social Security and we absolutely must give a tax break to the middle class?

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We all know the answer: politics. But why are they still acting as if we were a nation of “me-only” baby boomers? That era is over! It is no longer necessary for Congress to “buy” the right to cut spending via tax breaks. Grandparents and parents like Scott and Juliet want the American Dream to stay alive.

According to the 1990 census, 388,616 residents of the San Fernando Valley are under the age of 18. This means that in one year, Valley parents would receive about $194 million in tax credits. The 30-year cost of these credits will be $1.7 billion.

When I finished my presentation that first time, Scott said: “Ungar, I don’t want to talk to you any more. Every time I talk to you, I get depressed. And I know you’re right.”

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Well, if enough people get depressed, maybe they will deliver the message that Congress needs to hear: What’s happening is not fair to future generations. We no longer want you to make decisions based solely on political expediency. We understand that we need to make some sacrifices, but that they dwarf what will have to be done later. We want you to use spending cuts to get rid of the deficit. Please stop the pandering. Please stop sticking it to our kids.