http://finance.yahoo.com/news/INSIDE-WASHINGTON-Rude-apf-15091434.html?.v=1

The tax credit is supposed to provide up to $400 to individuals and $800 to married couples as part of the massive economic recovery package enacted in February. Most workers started receiving the credit through small increases in their paychecks in the past month.

But new tax withholding tables issued by the IRS could cause millions of taxpayers to get hundreds of dollars more than they are entitled to under the credit, money that will have to be repaid at tax time.

At-risk taxpayers include a broad swath of the public: married couples in which both spouses work; workers with more than one job; retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from their pension payments and Social Security recipients with jobs that provide taxable income.

[a little later in the article]

For example:

–A single worker with two jobs making $20,000 a year at each job will get a $400 boost in take-home pay at each of them, for a total of $800. That worker, however, is eligible for a maximum credit of $400, so the remaining $400 will have to be paid back at tax time — either through a smaller refund or a payment to the IRS.

The IRS recognized there could be a similar problem for married couples if both spouses work, so it adjusted the withholding tables. The fix, however, was imperfect.

– A married couple with a combined income of $50,000 is eligible for an $800 credit. However, if both spouses work and make more than $13,000, the new withholding tables give them each a $600 boost — for a total of $1,200.

There were 33 million married couples in 2008 in which both spouses worked. That’s 55 percent of all married couples, according to the Census Bureau.

– A single college student with a part-time job making $10,000 would get a $400 boost in pay. However, if that student is claimed as a dependent on a parent’s tax return, she doesn’t qualify for the credit and would have to repay it when she files next year.

Yeah, great job. So not only do most people have no clue how to do their taxes to make sure they’re not going to get hit with this, basically no one knows about it. Awesome plan. I hated this “credit” in the first place, and now it just seems even worse.

Did our President/Congress just think “Hey I have a great idea lets change the way a failed plan to recover the economy works to an even worse system. Surely that will spur economic growth. Let’s just keep giving away MADE UP money to the people and then we’ll recoup those costs by taxing them more later. Also, we’ll have to make up another oversight committee to make sure it goes smoothly; and, these changes which will raise our overhead by 400% so let’s not forget to include that amount when we tax people.”

Great system we’ve got going here. I’m positive no one has any damn idea what they’re doing at our capital. So far it’s just been another F’ing circus act. So far I’m not seeing a whole lot of change; basically it’s just more of the same.

I don’t think I can stress enough to people, changing a President is only one part of a possible solution to this mess we’re in. Don’t forget about Congress, they’re just as important (if not more, at least for local affairs).