Mario,

Posted by Mario:

"Persons 'earn' it by demostrating little ambiton, few skills, and poor work habits, thus keeping them at entry level wages."

Mario,
I couln't disagree with you more. just because someone has a low paying job doesn't mean they have little ambition, few skills, and poor work habits. Sounds like words taken straight from Ronald Reagans mouth if you ask me. There are many factors that contribute to people in low wage jobs. Good job skills, and even a good education doesn't get a person a job anymore. I know college grads with masters degrees who are having trouble finding work. There are even factors like this to consider (posted on CNN website).. They had an article that showed a study on how people were getting turned down for job interview bases soley on their name. People who had more obvious ethnic names were being looked over. They had applications of equal qualifications and one set had common non ethnic names and the other had common ethnic names. The study showed that women with names like Nakia, Natosha, Tamika, and men with names along the same ethnic line were completely ignored and not even called in for interviews. Of course another obvious form of racial descrimination. Factors like this a person has no control over. Where a person lives also has a great impact on what jobs are available. For example I used to live in Meadville Pennsylvania (The tool Capitol of the country), and unless you were in that line of work, 90% of the jobs were low wage. Another good example.. There's a co-worker of mine who graduated from college last semester with a BA in Criminal Justice, and the best job he can find thus far is one making $7.50 as a adminstrative clerk. Does he have this job from lack of ambition, skills, and poor work habits.?? Heck no! He has this job because currently there's nothing available. Of course there are people who abuse the system for obvious reasons, but there are many families struggling everyday to make a living.

This is taken from the IRS home page.

The Earned Income Credit (EIC) is a special credit for lower income workers. The credit reduces the amount of tax that you owe (if any). The credit is subtracted from the amount of tax you owe, so you end up paying less tax and you may get some money back from the government. Even if you do not have a tax liability, you might still get some money back.

To qualify for the credit for 2002, both your earned income and your adjusted gross income must be less than the following amounts.

$11,060 ($12,060, if filing a joint return) if you do not have a qualifying child.
$29,201 ($30,201, if filing a joint return) if you have one qualifying child.
$33,178 ($34,178, if filing a joint return) if you have two or more qualifying children.

Take a look at the income levels here... a person filing jointly with one child can make over $30,000 a year and qualify for this. Gee lets see here who makes this much money.. hmm cops, state workers, and a lot of people with a great deal of ambition and skills as well.

Squeak

[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 01-26-2003).]