Window Shopping With the Tax Refund in Bush’s Hall of Mirrors
As a service to readers, I did a little window shopping Thursday for those of you who can’t wait to spend the windfall from the latest federal tax cut.
Unfortunately, for all the hullabaloo, and President Bush’s claims that his plan would create jobs and get the economy off its duff, the average Joe isn’t going to make the leap from hamburger to steak.
Sure, there’s a $400 tax credit for a child, but Congress is still squabbling over who gets it and who doesn’t.
Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says about half of American households will clear $100 or less under the new tax plan, with the middle-fifth of income earners averaging $217. But if you’re Joe Millionaire, you’ll get buckets of clams -- an average savings of $93,500.
I think it’s safe to assume most readers don’t live in that sphere, so I started at a farmers market on Brand Boulevard in Glendale. Vincent Bono was selling his signature invention, a macadamia nutcracker, for $30.
He suggested buying three of them and a pound of nuts, which gets you in just under $100, and neatly wraps up your holiday shopping for the in-laws.
And by the way, when I asked Bono how he expects to spend his own estimated $200 to $300 tax savings, he gave the answer no true American should give.
“I’m going to put it into a trust fund for my grandchildren,” he said.
No, no, no, Vincent. You’re supposed to run out and blow this dough or the plan doesn’t work. If you slip it under the mattress for the day when your health-care benefits are cut off, it’s going to sabotage the economic recovery.
“I don’t think it affects me all that much,” argued Farmer’s Market manager Chris Nyerges, who isn’t counting on getting back a pile of cash. “I hate to say it, but it does look like one of those things where the rich get richer.”
Don’t worry about that. Our job as patriots is to spend, spend, spend, so I headed over to the Glendale Galleria to scope out some bargains.
At a store called Brook- stone, I found the perfect economy-pumping item. It’s not something anyone really needs -- which happens to be a specialty of this particular store -- but for $75, the Grill Alert Talking Remote Thermometer fits most tax windfall budgets, so long as you aren’t barbecuing filet mignon.
A digital camera would be nice, but at Ritz Camera, salesman Tony Hernandez said you’d have to spend several hundred dollars for a good one. And at Radio Shack, the nicer TVs are out of range too, although you could settle for a no-frills, 19-inch RCA on sale for $129.
I was getting more depressed by the minute. Look, if we’re going to saddle our children with unspeakable debt, or sabotage Social Security for future generations, shouldn’t we at least get a big-screen TV out of the deal?
I’m perfectly willing to delude myself, but I want to do it in style.
If we’re going to decide that deficits don’t matter, and that the only standard of political achievement is how many tax cuts you can deliver, shouldn’t we all be driving a new Lexus?
Nobody told us the middle class is going to get hammered under the new tax plan, carrying a bigger share of the total tax burden over the next 10 years, as the Tax Policy Center and Citizens for Tax Justice concluded. And nobody told us three macadamia nutcrackers and a bag of nuts is all the majority of Americans will ever see.
In men’s clothing at Robinsons May, salesman Fred Molinary said he’s seen no rush of customers anticipating their tax savings, and he thinks he knows why.
“The state is going to have to do something about its budget crisis,” he said. “If the federal government has less money to send to the states, don’t you think state and local government are going to turn around and raise taxes?”
Either that, or swing an ax. To cite one example of what lies ahead, L.A. County is planning to dump 800 public health employees, including 79 doctors at one hospital alone.
Tragic, yes. But they’ll have their tax savings to tide them over.
Greenstein, in defense of Bush’s claims, said the president is right in saying the tax cut will initially stimulate the economy, and even create some jobs.
“But we’re setting up this huge train wreck,” Greenstein warned.
“We’re heading toward either massive cuts in basic services like health care and education, or big tax increases on future generations of workers, or crushing deficits that cause real damage to the economy and injure millions of American families.”
The Senate, under pressure for behaving like a colony of heartless trolls, voted Thursday to give another 6.5 million low-income families the $400 child credit. Now it’s up to the House to decide their fate.
But you can do your part today.
Go out and buy the nutcracker, the talking meat thermometer, a three-piece suit and a dozen shiny geegaws.
Don’t worry about the bills coming due. Put it on your credit card and out of your mind.
It’s the American way.
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Steve Lopez can be reached at steve.lopez@latimes.com
