I am responding to the recent Ellen Goodman column suggesting growing "scorn" for the working poor (June 20).
Goodman should recheck her facts. Since 2000, major tax cuts have removed 10 million filers from the income tax rolls. Today 40 million households, nearly one in three tax filers, owe no income taxes. I'm not sure how Goodman defines "scorn," but I'll bet these working families appreciate paying fewer taxes.
Goodman poses the question, "Where are all the new allotments of child-care money?" The House bill proposes $2 billion more in child-care funding; that's on top of record increases in funding since 1996 and $6 billion in unspent federal funds states can spend on child-care needs. In closing, the same tax relief bill Goodman derides provides $20 billion states can use for health- and child-care needs.
As Casey Stengel, former manager of the Yankees, said, "You can look it up."
Wally Herger
Chairman, Ways and Means Subcommittee
on Human Resources
Washington, D.C.