Almost all EITC benefits are provided when claimants file their taxes,
after the 1st of the year after the 'tax year' (previous calendar
year). At that point payroll data can be used to check reported wage
& salary. Checking the other details of the claim, non-wage income,
family connections, is much more difficult. That aside, the delay in
filing for and receiving benefits is not conducive to timely stimulus.
In the present case, timing may not matter as much as usual because
we could be in for a very lengthy downturn, but sooner is still better
than later for any boost.
Not to be a wet blanket, but people may prefer to take time off when
it gets warmer, or they may be afraid to take off because there might
not be a job waiting for them when they return. That said, the Baker
suggestion is no worse than any number of other ideas.
I'm starting to think the radical edge in this debate is to note the
difficulty of easy fixes ('easy' in the technical sense of the Gov
just spends more money somehow) and the relevance of real desperation
measures: the Federal gov as employer of last resort, as source of
mass relief payments, and as operator of new, vital enterprises in the
green public economy.
On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 2:13 PM, Sandwichman <[email protected]> wrote:
> Admittedly, implementation and enforcement would be a challenge for
> this proposal. In that respect, it doesn't differ from existing labor
> standards legislation in principle -- only in magnitude. Another way
> to skin this cat would be with something akin to an EITC, which could
> be called an Earned Leisure Tax Credit. There you would introduce a
> kind of cross-check of employees filing for the credit and employers
> providing the data in the form of payroll receipts.
>
> On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 8:42 AM, Max Sawicky <[email protected]> wrote:
>> How likely or how practical? How does the Gov find out how much time
>> off was granted? How does it check what information is provided? You
>> should ask these questions about every stimulus proposal. People
>> never do.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 11:27 AM, Jim Devine <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> good idea! how likely to be implemented?
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 10:33 PM, Sandwichman <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> Dean Baker has made this old Sandwichman very, very happy. Point seven
>>>> of Dean's "Yes, We Can Make the Stimulus more Stimulating</a>":
>>>>
>>>> http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&-columns/op-eds-&-columns/yes,-we-can-make-the-stimulus-more-stimulating/
>>>>
>>>> 7) Pay for shorter workweeks and more vacations
>>>>
>>>> The United States lags the rest of world in that its workers are not
>>>> guaranteed any vacation time, sick leave, or family and parental
>>>> leave. In Europe, five or six weeks a year of paid vacation is
>>>> standard. Also, all Western European countries guarantee their workers
>>>> some amount of paid sick leave and paid parental leave.
>>>>
>>>> The stimulus gives us a great chance to catch up with the rest of the
>>>> world. The government could make up the pay for two years for any paid
>>>> cutback in hours, up to 10 percent of total hours worked in a year and
>>>> $3,000 per worker. This means that if a firm offered workers who
>>>> previously had no paid vacation five weeks of vacation a year, the
>>>> government would provide a tax credit to pick up the tab, up to $3,000
>>>> per worker. Similarly, if they extended 10 days of paid sick leave,
>>>> the government would provide a tax credit for the amount actually
>>>> used. If employers of 70 million workers (half of the labor force)
>>>> received an average tax break of $2,500, the cost would be $170
>>>> billion a year.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Sandwichman
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
>>> way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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>
>
>
> --
> Sandwichman
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