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NBC Uses Military Families to Distort
Tax Cut for Non-Taxpayers

More income tax ?cuts? for people who don't pay any income tax. Playing off sympathy for low-paid military members, on Thursday's NBC Nightly News Norah O'Donnell delivered a particularly distorted look at the tax situation for those in the military, with kids under age 18, who earn less than about $27,000 a year.

O'Donnell highlighted a military wife who ?learned her family was not included in the child tax credit because they don't make enough money.? The woman complained: ?I can't explain it, doesn't make sense to me, but it's pretty sad.?

She's probably confused because she relies on the news media for her information and sees stories like O'Donnell's which obscure basic facts.

And, in fact, the woman will continue to receive a $600 per child credit even if it exceeds her income tax payments, she just won't get and even bigger payment.

O'Donnell cited a report from the liberal Children's Defense Fund as her authority in claiming that ?about one million children in military families will not benefit from the new child tax credit because they make less than $27,000 a year.? Repeating the mis-reporting from last week, O'Donnell proceeded to assert that ?nearly 12 million American children [were] denied the child tax credit when Congress and the White House eliminated low-income families to keep the total cost of the bill at $350 billion.?

She concluded with by worrying that ?there's still plenty of wrangling to be done before a final bill passes Congress? so that, she ludicrously insisted, ?potentially leaves many military families facing a summer without tax relief.?

How can you expect ?tax relief? from an income tax cut bill when you not only don't pay any net income taxes, in most cases you already get more back from the government via the already-existing child credit and EITC, than you put in?

At least CBS's Sharyl Attkisson realized the reality. In a CBS Evening News story she reported on efforts to extend the child credit both to those who don't pay income taxes as well as to raise the top income level that would qualify. Attkisson explained how the $10 billion more would be divided: ?$5 billion to low-income families who pay no federal income taxes. They could get a cash payment of up to $1,000 per child. There's also something for Republicans: $5 billion more in tax relief for higher income married couples with children.? That would move the top level from $105,000 to $150,000.

ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas was just as distorted as NBC's O'Donnell, but kept her incomplete item short on Thursday's World News Tonight: ?The Senate passed new tax cuts today to benefit families left out of the President's relief package. They include child credits for families earning between $10,000 and $26,000 a year who got nothing under the recent plan. The cuts must still be approved by the House.?

They may have gotten ?nothing,? but they put nothing in.

Tom Brokaw assumed there was something wrong with the initial bill as he plugged the upcoming June 5 NBC Nightly News story: ?Up next, a solution in the works for millions of the families cut out of the recent tax cut.?

Brokaw set up the subsequent piece without any hint that he was talking about non-income tax payers: ?And on Capitol Hill tonight, the Senate passed a compromise bill that will fix what had been viewed by many as a mistake in the new tax cut law. It dropped families making minimum wages from eligibility for an expanded child tax credit. One of the big reason's for the fix: The big number of American military families included in that category.?

Norah O'Donnell profiled Jennifer Darling, the wife of a lance corporal, who is overwhelmed by a new baby, ?struggling to make ends meet.? Her husband makes about $20,000 a year.

O'Donnell asserted: ?When President Bush signed the tax cut into law last week Darling learned her family was not included in the child tax credit because they don't make enough money.?
Jennifer Darling: ?I can't explain it, doesn't make sense to me, but it's pretty sad.?
O'Donnell: ?The Darlings are not alone. According to a study done by the Children's Defense Fund, a liberal advocacy group, about one million children in military families will not benefit from the new child tax credit because they make less than $27,000 a year. Republican Senator John McCain calls it an outrage.?
McCain: ?They are low income Americans. They've been fighting and dying in the battlefields of Iraq and now the message to them is your children are being left behind.?
O'Donnell: ?Those military children part of larger group, nearly 12 million American children denied the child tax credit when Congress and the White House eliminated low-income families to keep the total cost of the bill at $350 billion.?
Senator Susan Collins: ?It really sent the wrong signal at the very worst time to our enlisted men and women.?
Darling, who has two kids: ?It makes such a huge difference, we just, you know, every little bit helps. And $800 is not even a little bit, that would be a huge amount of money for us.?
O'Donnell concluded: ?But there's still plenty of wrangling to be done before a final bill passes Congress and that potentially leaves many military families facing a summer without tax relief.?

There may be a good argument for raising military pay, but NBC distorted the issue by not pointing out how many of those in the military with kids already live income tax free, so not giving them a cut in taxes they don't pay is not some kind of terrible injustice.

It's a matter of welfare in my opinion. How can you cut taxes for someone that doesn't pay?
Yes, taxes do come out of their check every month. But, they get it all back, ,and in some cases even more than they put in. Who's paying for the "more" part? Those of us that make more than $27,000 per annum.
Thank you very much, er, I mean your welcome!