Weekly Wrap

Cool! Tax error in my favor. Collect $800. Do not pass Go. Proceed straight to my bank and deposit. Now. Before the ink disappears or the check self-destructs. Maybe it's a hologram of a check, because I can't believe this thing is for real. What did I do to deserve this?

Turns out that my wife and I each qualified for something called a Make Work Pay tax credit of $400 each. When I filled out our joint income-tax return two months ago, I did not claim the credit. I did not realize it was for us. When I saw "credit," I figured it was for illegals or NINJAs or fat-cat investors, not for plain ol' middle-class folks. I thought "Make Work Pay" was just a variation of the usual "Make Workers Pay." No way was I going to trigger something like that. I decided to leave that part blank and hope that the IRS computers would not flag me.

Apparently the computers have been re-programmed. It used to be that they would scan your return in search of additional ways to gouge you, even for ridiculously small amounts (I was once billed, incorrectly, for five bucks). Under Obamacare, they look for ways to pay you back. And the Make Work Pay program is a big-time payback. Anyone with annual earned income under $95,000 is eligible. That adds up to over $10 billion a year. The IRS power-vacuum that used to suck greenbacks out of your wallet has turned into a leaf-blower. Now there is Change that y'all can believe in!

If the money really belongs to us, then why did the government take it in the first place? Think of the time and expense involved in bureaucrats' collecting, fondling, then returning what's yours (the money, I mean). When lawmakers sell their votes for bribes, it's called corruption. But when they dispense "credits" to buy votes, it's called stimulus. Eventually the credits will have to be taken back anyway to repay the creditors (the buyers of U.S. Treasuries) who financed the give-away in the first place. Watching the money go back and forth is enough to give you whiplash.

The monthly employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reminded us this morning that there are still 15 million out-of-work Americans who would love a paycheck, not to mention the Make Work Pay credit that goes with it. Headlines trumpeted that 162,000 jobs were added in March, the biggest gain in three years. But 48,000 of those were temporary census hires who will be back on the street by mid-summer. So think instead of 114,000 net new jobs, not enough to offset the increase of 398,000 in the labor force. The unemployment rate remained at 9.7%.

The jobs-gained number would have been higher except for one thing: the Census Bureau is having a hard time finding enough temps to finish the headcount. Here in Oxford County positions, particularly for counters in sparsely settled areas, go unfilled. Short-term, part-time jobs apparently hold little attraction for displaced workers looking for real, lasting jobs. Those folks are still waiting, no matter what the government cheerleaders are saying. And three months from now they will be joined by tens of thousands of teachers to be laid off before the start of the next school year.