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The lies of Joe Klein and Time about taxes and the poor are contravened by CATO's Chris Edwards, who finally tells the truth about how the tax system is quickly becoming an arm of the welfare state.

Each recent major tax bill - 1986, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2003 - took taxpayers off the tax rolls as the EITC and other benefits were expanded. However, exempting more citizens from tax and mailing them bigger checks is bad policy. For one thing, if over one-third of Americans think that the government is "free," they'll vote for too much of it. For another, refundable credits cause an administrative nightmare: IRS studies routinely find that more than 20 percent of all refundable EITC payments are erroneous or fraudulent. Cash hand-outs attract crooks using ploys such as inventing children to boost tax credits.