by Kerby Anderson

During this election year, we will be hearing lots of promises from the candidates especially when it comes to our taxes. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is promising tax credits to lots of people. But she isn’t the only one. Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio has been proposing a larger child tax credit. But it is instructive to look at the promises already made by Hillary Clinton since she wants to find major conduits in the tax code to transfer income from one constituency to another. The editors of the Wall Street Journal called it “Hillary Clinton’s Tax Credit Sweepstakes.” They said she is “like Oprah Winfrey giving away automobiles to her audience: You get a tax credit, and you get a tax credit.” Actually, it is hard to keep all these promises straight. She would give a tax credit to a family member who cares for an aging parent. She wants a significant refundable tax credit for out-of-pocket health costs. She wants to give an apprenticeship tax credit for entry-level workers. Add to this her desire to expand existing tax credits for child and dependent care, new markets, college tuition, as well as wind, solar, and ethanol tax credits. Some of these might sound enticing, but they end up making the federal tax code more complex. They also represent an attempt at social engineering using the tax code. Politicians tax one group higher so they can provide tax credits to a favored constituency. Don’t forget that there are lots of federal regulations that must be followed in order for you to qualify for the tax credit. That is why the editors guess that by election time “Mrs. Clinton will have bestowed tax credits on single women, gay weddings, time off to protest the police, and universities that redecorate to remove the memory of alumni who were racist.” The editors were obviously kidding, but the reality isn’t too far off when you read about all the tax credits in the federal tax code.