Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Tax Credits: Irresponsible Way to Spend Hawaii Taxpayer Dollars

By Lowell L. Kalapa,

..and since credits tend to specify an activity, there is no assurance that the activity will be of a quality that the state would otherwise required.

For example, one of the proposals floated for the past few sessions would have handed out $1,000 to caregivers of elderly family members.

With all that we hear and read about how family members have to give up their jobs and family time to care for elderly relatives, it is easy to empathize with the idea of compensating these caregivers. But is a tax credit the proper response?

The flip side of this concern is that in almost all cases of elder abuse, the perpetrator is a relative. So handing out a tax credit to someone who is providing care to an elderly relative does not assure that the elder is receiving quality care - just because the caregiver is a relative.

If there is no oversight or way of determining the quality of care, taxpayers may be subsidizing a caregiver who is abusive.

Abridged >>

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

wrong assumption on abuse as your excuse to keep tax money.

First of all, its my money that is being returned that the government took in the first place via taxation.

Secondly, I have witness abuse in nursing homes!!! This is the reason why I am a caregiver and gave up my job.

The federal or state government has no right to invade family privacy for the sake of the dollar bill and then make false allegations so they can make up excuses to not give tax credits to those adult children that are taking care of their parents.
This is not a %100 Christian nation, so those of you who wanted multi-culturalism, you got it, along with the abuse claims.