The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 72/No. 10      March 10, 2008

 
Letters
 
Tax rebate
In your February 25 article on the government stimulus package, you correctly point out that most workers will get little, if anything, and whole categories of workers are excluded. Among those who won’t receive benefits are many eligible recipients of Social Security and disabled veterans. If an individual received over $3,000 from Social Security or Veterans Benefits in 2007, he or she is eligible for a $300 rebate. Pensioners with little if any taxable income do not normally file federal income tax returns. Rather than the government simply sending them a rebate check, however, they must file a 2007 income tax return in order to get the $300.

Many pensioners will never realize they have to file. Even if they find out about the rebate and the filing requirement, many will be unable to fill out returns or will buy filing “assistance” from for-profit tax preparers who will take most of the money.

The IRS estimates that 10 to 20 million people who normally do not file tax returns will have to file this year in order to receive the rebate.

Bob Braxton
Atlanta, Georgia

Cuban elections
With the decision of Fidel Castro to not seek re-election as president of the Council of State, the capitalist media has taken a special interest in Cuba (a truly socialist nation which has been the subject of many recent articles in the Militant). With nothing but propaganda coming from these “news” sources, I think many working people would be interested in getting the Cuban side of the story. Granma, the Cuban Communist Party’s official newspaper, can be read at http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu.

Walter Smolarek
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of interest to working people. Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home