Yes, the local Department of Transportation is trying to raise money by making up fines. James O'Malley, El Gringoqueño, brought this to My attention a month ago and now The Jenius' bogus fines--$270 worth--have appeared in the mailbox...
Yes, outhouse of representatives vice-president José Aponte is suggesting that employees in positions of trust (essentially hired at whim) be fired to save money so other goverment employees--such as teachers, police personnel and health workers--can get paid. Aponte is a Fool: no one will take that offer seriously and even if they did, there isn't enough money there to make any progress in the current fiscal debacle. He's basically making noise, like a hyena at dusk...
But no, the government doesn't give a hyena's butt who gets hurt in the so-called tax reform. Once again, single-parent households--usually headed by women--are going to feel an additional crunch in daily living.
For one, these households make up a hefty percentage of Our population, with estimates of between 28-32%. That nearly one-third of Our people are to be hammered by taxation is repulsive. (Future topic: Taxes are theft, pure and simple.) That no one seems to care is even worse.
A single parent who works outside the home must pay double for education and child care, for as the extended family has disappeared in Puerto Rico, the options for trustworthy child care have moved from "home" to "business". Since public schools often have shortened schedules and a blizzard of days off unrelated to any holidays, the single parent has to pay for private schools and extended in-school care. Either that or break up their work schedule to manage child care; essentially relegating themselves to part-time work which seldom pays as well as full-time work.
Toss in the bewildering array of government-imposed hoop-hops We encounter with increasing frequency and you have a parent giving up sick days and even holidays to deal with their children's basic issues. To add additional taxes for consumption (single-parent households dine out more often, for example) and reduced deductions for being single, for transportation and for educational expenses and you have an agonizingly unfair situation getting worse.
Don't give Me vapid "reasons", such as, "No one forced them to have children, or get a divorce." How the single-parent household comes about is not the issue: that a large percentage of Our families, of Our children, are being trapped by The Fools is. Taxes are inherently unfair; to lower that axe on a particularly vulnerable segment of Our People is criminal.
Short of fixing "everything", what can be done?
1) Increase the deduction per child for single-parent households.
2) Establish a serious and consistent After-School Program, from 2:30 to 6:00 P.M., in all public schools, so that single-parents can work full-time and feel that their children are safe. (Everyone benefits from this one if the Program is set-up and run as a non-profit business.)
3) Make flex-time a worker's right. Again, everybody benefits. (Hell, if the government can offer it, private industry should too.)
4) Grant tax breaks to companies that establish day-care or education-based centers for their employees, even if it's done by a group of companies. That way, more companies can help create a better work environment for all parents.
And let's not obscure a central issue here: The majority of single-parent households are run by women, with limited support by ex-husbands and society as a whole. Why The Fools of the distaff side haven't jumped upon this matter is simply evidence that they--despite their gender--are Fools twice over, for supporting legalized theft and tossing ashes on their betters.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
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