A beautiful, touching piece. The public sector will be so fortunate to have you. Your original and very salient article on the CTC should be more widely published. Congratulations and best of luck and joy in your new career.
Your mother sounds like a wonderful woman who was also wise enough to be absolutely correct on the all-important Yankees/Mets question. I trust you will do good things with your retirement and heartily suggest you buy a Yankees cap.
From your CTC piece: In effect, this had the important and vastly underrated effect of removing from these payments any stigma.
I hadn't thought of this, but absolutely true. Our family makes a little less than the single person cutoff per year (until I rejoin the workforce in about 3 years' time; even then, we'd still be below the two-income cutoff). The CTC was manna from heaven. Our grocery bills have skyrocketed and we really feel that. Our three sons are growing (as children tend to do) and clothing them and shoe-ing them adds up.
What's more, the CTC helped free us to more easily bear the cost of their few extracurriculars: music lessons and soccer or baseball for one, a flute ensemble and swimming lessons for the other (the littlest doesn't do anything yet). These are the types of activities that (in moderation!) make a child more well-rounded, expose them to more, supplement their public education.
Our eldest son is a freshman at a Title 1 school, in an international baccalaureate program. He's taking junior year math. He was just selected as one of seven students from his school to go on a Simmons Foundation-sponsored college visiting trip next week, to U of Richmond, American, Howard, Georgetown and the Naval Academy. We are thrilled! We couldn't afford such a trip ourselves.
I feel that the lower-middle class is often overlooked in the discussion about state-sponsored benefits. It's a moral obligation for a country as rich as ours to lift children out of poverty, but to then give children in the lower-income-but-not-impoverished stratum opportunities that come easily to peers of wealthier families is the next step.
I agree with everything you wrote. Until the Federal government steps in to make raising children more financially manageable, it will have to be local governments, mainly states, that try to do what they can.
For better or worse, states have to have balanced budgets and their resources are smaller. There are some modest state CTCs already in existence. If a state can afford to do more, however, I think a CTC is a great tax expenditure that pays off.
if such an opportunity were viable, the question would be how widely to spread a limited budget.
Congratulations on retiring from AG, David! Looking forward to following your second act. You are certain to make an impact when you identify a cause (child poverty or other) that impassions you. (a la Jill Roberts).
God, that's beautiful and God that's true. A tip of the hat to you, David Roberts - though I'm afraid that you know which letter is stitched on the front of that hat!
as long as i've known you - i never knew this! and i recall meeting your mother. she did what i have been thinking about doing (ok i prob already "do it" on a smaller scale with SME) but i have been wanting to channel my SME efforts into something larger. in fact, SME & have both recently begun to take those next steps towards expanding "what we do." and wow, what if we could leave a legacy with lasting effects similar to those of your mother? hmmm. thnx for sharing that story. well said. and yes - indelible impact - i like that and all the thought it is provoking it is evoking in me on this grey day here in the uk. i'll keep reading...
A beautiful, touching piece. The public sector will be so fortunate to have you. Your original and very salient article on the CTC should be more widely published. Congratulations and best of luck and joy in your new career.
Your mother sounds like a wonderful woman who was also wise enough to be absolutely correct on the all-important Yankees/Mets question. I trust you will do good things with your retirement and heartily suggest you buy a Yankees cap.
Thanks for the comments, excluding the suggested shanda of me ever wearing a Yankees cap!
Sorry, to me the Mets are still an expansion team.
I can't believe you're allowing this Yankee-fueled hate speech on your site. Unacceptable.
Beautifully said
Thanks!
From your CTC piece: In effect, this had the important and vastly underrated effect of removing from these payments any stigma.
I hadn't thought of this, but absolutely true. Our family makes a little less than the single person cutoff per year (until I rejoin the workforce in about 3 years' time; even then, we'd still be below the two-income cutoff). The CTC was manna from heaven. Our grocery bills have skyrocketed and we really feel that. Our three sons are growing (as children tend to do) and clothing them and shoe-ing them adds up.
What's more, the CTC helped free us to more easily bear the cost of their few extracurriculars: music lessons and soccer or baseball for one, a flute ensemble and swimming lessons for the other (the littlest doesn't do anything yet). These are the types of activities that (in moderation!) make a child more well-rounded, expose them to more, supplement their public education.
Our eldest son is a freshman at a Title 1 school, in an international baccalaureate program. He's taking junior year math. He was just selected as one of seven students from his school to go on a Simmons Foundation-sponsored college visiting trip next week, to U of Richmond, American, Howard, Georgetown and the Naval Academy. We are thrilled! We couldn't afford such a trip ourselves.
I feel that the lower-middle class is often overlooked in the discussion about state-sponsored benefits. It's a moral obligation for a country as rich as ours to lift children out of poverty, but to then give children in the lower-income-but-not-impoverished stratum opportunities that come easily to peers of wealthier families is the next step.
It did cross a line! I'll have to consult my censors.
I agree with everything you wrote. Until the Federal government steps in to make raising children more financially manageable, it will have to be local governments, mainly states, that try to do what they can.
For better or worse, states have to have balanced budgets and their resources are smaller. There are some modest state CTCs already in existence. If a state can afford to do more, however, I think a CTC is a great tax expenditure that pays off.
if such an opportunity were viable, the question would be how widely to spread a limited budget.
Congratulations on retiring from AG, David! Looking forward to following your second act. You are certain to make an impact when you identify a cause (child poverty or other) that impassions you. (a la Jill Roberts).
In Brazil I learned about the Bolsa Familia which you can read about here: https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/case-study/bolsa-familia-in-brazil. It's not a tax credit, but I think you will find it interesting.
Thanks Jen!
beautiful.
God, that's beautiful and God that's true. A tip of the hat to you, David Roberts - though I'm afraid that you know which letter is stitched on the front of that hat!
as long as i've known you - i never knew this! and i recall meeting your mother. she did what i have been thinking about doing (ok i prob already "do it" on a smaller scale with SME) but i have been wanting to channel my SME efforts into something larger. in fact, SME & have both recently begun to take those next steps towards expanding "what we do." and wow, what if we could leave a legacy with lasting effects similar to those of your mother? hmmm. thnx for sharing that story. well said. and yes - indelible impact - i like that and all the thought it is provoking it is evoking in me on this grey day here in the uk. i'll keep reading...