The Poor Get Poorer, Thanks To The Republican Party

The Washington Post reports today:

Congressional negotiators beat back efforts yesterday to expand and preserve tax refunds for poor families, even as they added $13 billion in corporate tax breaks to a package of middle-class tax cuts that could come to a vote in the Senate today.

Kevin Drum at Political Animal comments:

How do you screw the poor without looking like you're screwing the poor? Easy: insist that income requirements for child tax credits increase with inflation even though the incomes of the poor have stagnated or even dropped in the past few years. Jack O’Toole has the dismal details.

Needless to say, fine distinctions like this didn’t get in the way of extending $13 billion in "last minute" corporate tax breaks.

Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog says: “Message: Caribbean distillers get a tax break. Poor American families get a TAX INCREASE.”

Update: Judd at Winning Argument makes a few more points along these lines. “The middle class could end up worse off. Middle class families receive an average benefit of just $169. This could be more than off-set by program cuts or future tax increases that will inevitably be required to pay down the added debt created by the bill.”