SB 2018-295: No Child Should Live in Poverty Act (Debating)

[Pericles]

Here's a relevant post from the House debate.

Frankly, the child poverty rate in Atlasia is disgraceful(all child poverty is disgraceful IMO, but Atlasia's rate is more disgraceful than most developed nations), at over 20%. By reforming the Child Tax Credit and extending support to families, millions would be lifted out of poverty. Irl, policies of a similar nature(these actually are more generous I believe), were projected to benefit 14.2 million people, "It would lift about 1.5 million people (including about 400,000 children under age 5) above the poverty line and lift another 9.4 million people (including about 1.9 million children under age 5) closer to the poverty line" and "It also would increase the incomes of about 5.2 million people, including about 1.1 million children under age 5, living in deep poverty, with incomes below half of the poverty line."(link). The CTC is already one of the most effective policies at lifting people out of poverty, but its benefits are limited for the very poor. Furthermore, when similar increased tax credits were implemented in the UK, child poverty was cut in half(while remaining largely stable in our nation).

These benefits won't be misspent, studies have shown it actually reduces spending on smoking and alcohol for instance(http://www.nber.org/papers/w21101). Instead they will pay off even more with longer-term benefits for society. If that still isn't enough for you, if somehow this is not a worthy use of money in your mind-I have added income tax changes to fund it. I am also willing to add other funding if necessary-I was thinking a 1-2% increase in the top corporate tax rate-though people are welcome to give alternative suggestions. This is a worthy bill to earn your support and will be beneficial to millions of Atlasians.

[Pericles]

The Senate should probably pass this soon.

[Pericles]

Also, I would consider a more responsible means of funding this once we get cost information since an across the board 5% cut in defense, especially in the manner in which it is done here and with an unresolved situation in Korea, doesn't strike me as the best path to take at present.

Do you want a more targeted defense cut or do you have any suggestions for a different way to fund this bill?

[Pericles]

Unfortunately(not blaming the GM department, I understand the problems and appreciate their hard work), we still haven't gotten estimates. I'll start by introducing an amendment to the funding.

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People's House of Representatives
Passed 7-0-1-1 in the Atlasian House Assembled
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[Pericles]

Half? Wouldn’t it just be better to say ‘the required funding will be taken from’?

I'd prefer that some of the funding goes to the rest of the budget, but if the Senate wants to use that act as the funding mechanism for this than I'd be open towards a change.

[Pericles]

At the risk of again meddling into a Senate debate, it is my personal opinion as Secretary of State that it is rather irresponsible to pursue this bill as written with Section 3.1. At the risk of repeating myself we have been at war for several months, and that war undoubtedly has led to losses that must be replaced and expenditures that must be met, all while our Armed Forces recover from the conflict assuming we are indeed successful at bringing it to an end very soon.

This really isn't the time to go around gutting the defense budget without much regard for the consecuences.

I have been discussing an alternative funding option with Senator Yankee, including more targeted defense cuts. This should not be treated as the final version. However I do believe this issue is so important and that the CTC expansion is so beneficial that the Senate must dedicate itself to passing this in some form-the question should be the kind of bill we pass not whether we pass something.

[Pericles]

So with Revenue Enhancement scored it seems that it can fully fund this bill on its own with several billion dollars left over, or if we keep the defense cuts in some form this bill can be fully funded and there is plenty left over in revenue enhancement for deficit reduction. I hope we can reach a solution on this soon.

[Pericles]

Right, I got some info from the GM's office, and this bill will be too expensive, we'd have to use have the revenue made through the Revenue Enhancement bill just to finance it, and we need that money to deal with the deficit. I'll have to oppose this bill for now, until government finances are in a better state.

Well I think even if we use the Revenue Enhancement act for this it still serves a positive purpose, as that act prevents a further increase in the deficit and leaves more options open for cuts to the deficit that we can use in other bills, rather than using up our options too early. So it gives us more breathing room and enhances our ability to reduce the deficit in the future, and so while its effectiveness may be slightly reduced in that area it is worthwhile given the impact this bill will have(the issue of child poverty being pressing, rates of it being appallingly high in Atlasia and this bill having the ability to reduce it significantly-maybe even halve it-then that makes it overall a good bill that we should pass imo).

[Pericles]

Given that the Revenue Adjustment Act can fully fund this bill, I offer this amendment.

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People's House of Representatives
Passed 7-0-1-1 in the Atlasian House Assembled
[/quote]

[Pericles]

I've already explained this amendment in a previous post, both bills are now very beneficial. This is a far better use of the funds than originally intended, and it's not dumb because this is used effectively. The budget exist to fund worthwhile government services-this is one of them.

[Pericles]

Time to vote imo-therefore I motion for just that.

[Pericles]

Aye