9/25/00 1:25 p.m.
Post Favors Robb
Trashing George Allen's tax plan.

By NR's John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru

eaders of the Washington Post's Metro section yesterday will be excused for thinking they had turned to the editorial page, given the lead story's big headline: "Allen Tax Credit Favors Rich Families."

Headline writers normally throw in a comma at the end of a statement like that and add, "Study Says" — or some such qualifier (which they actually did in a much smaller subhead). That's especially true when the article's analysis leans on a group like Citizens for Tax Justice, which is not "a nonpartisan tax-reform group," as reporters Craig Timberg and John M. Berry suggest, but an assembly of soak-the-middle-class left-wing economists.

Yet the Post's headline has no time for such subtleties. It gets right to the point: George Allen, the GOP's candidate for the Senate in Virginia, is for the rich.

Actually, his plan favors taxpayers: It's a tax credit for school expenses worth up to $2,000 per family. This can include books, computers, software, tutors, and so on (but not tuition).

And who are the rich? Let's scoot down to the 17th paragraph of Timberg and Berry's story: "Nationwide, the median household income was $38,900 in 1998. Applying that total to the tax forms for a family of four last year, and assuming use of the standard deduction, the family's tax liability was $2,109."

Got that? If your family makes a hair under $40,000 per year, you're rich. Congratulations!

(Single adults living by themselves count as "households." The median income for two-income families is $54,000.)

The story, by the way, came just in time for Allen and Sen. Chuck Robb (D.) to debate in Richmond last night. And guess which candidate cited it during an exchange on education policy?

The Washington Post isn't due to give its endorsement for a few more weeks, but don't hold your breath. It's already campaigning for its man.

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