Don't Mess With Taxes

The chances for a second economic stimulus payment before the end of the year have essentially evaporated.

Facing opposition from House Republicans as well as the strong possibility that many lawmakers might not be in a mood to return to D.C. if they are voted out on Nov.4, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has backed off her earlier idea of pushing through a second rebate.

Pelosi and colleagues briefly considered another stimulus payment. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama alluded to it in announcing his revised economic plan.

Thankfully, some sanity prevailed.

"We could add a rebate, tax cut, or something like that. I think that's going to take more time." Pelosi said. "I don't think we can do that by the time of a lame duck."

Not now: As I argued in Say it ain't so!, rushing into more rebates is unwise. The immediate economic aid, to both individual taxpayers as well as our struggling economy, would be limited. And the costs could cause more problems by adding to our ginormous federal deficit.

Sharing my skepticism about the effectiveness of rebates right now is My Two Dollars, who says, "We do not have the cash to be throwing good money after bad; we are already doing that with the bailout."

Will the idea resurface when the new administration takes over in January? Possibly, says Blogging Stocks. 

Maybe later? I'm realistic enough to acknowledge that political agendas will always play a part in legislation. Too often, that politically partisan component is disproportional to the country's real needs.

But I'm also still hopeful enough to think that whoever takes over the White House and whatever the Democrat-Republican makeup of the House and Senate, our lawmakers will at least start 2009 by making an honest assessment of our economy and what needs to be done to get it back on track.

Stop laughing. It's possible. Especially since when the new year begins, it's still two years before any lawmakers face re-election. That might be enough time so that Representatives, Senators and the President can actually do work on Capitol Hill instead of kicking off the next campaign.