MUST WE RE-LEARN ELEMENTARY FISCAL POLICY? Are tax credits welfare?

The presidential campaigns are clashing over whether Obama's tax proposal, which would expand the ranks of those who pay no federal income tax but get a refund check, is akin to welfare.

Obama's opponents, calling the proposal another step in his plan to redistribute wealth, are particularly angered that he would pay for the cuts by raising taxes on those earning more than $250,000.

"Barack Obama's plan to raise taxes on some in order to give checks to others is not a tax cut; it's just another government giveaway," McCain said at a New Hampshire rally on Oct. 22.

On the current tax forms, it's called the Earned Income Tax Credit. I like the older term, negative income tax, which I learned from Robert Lampman, and which others learned from Milton Friedman.