Rae Oliver Davis: “When you talk about creating strong families, I comment on our good friends and neighbors back in Kentucky, Mike and…”

“When you talk about creating strong families, I comment on our good friends and neighbors back in Kentucky, Mike and Vonna Drake. They typify Americans living that dream of being able to pursue their own opportunity. Mike works as a pilot; Vonna is a nurse. Their children are friends with my family. I have watched their kids grow up through the years. These policies that seem so arcane, reading about them in the news or some of the shrill rhetoric that we hear during political campaigns, have a real impact on their flexibility and ability to invest in their children's future, let alone decisions that they might make regarding their futures and careers. In 1,443 days, my neighbors are going to have a $2,000 tax increase. They have two children. The $500 per child tax credit that was increased to $1,000, recognizing the cost of raising a family, the cost of investment in all of the needs of our children, and not simply food and clothing, but education and activities to grow them and develop character and to strengthen them for the future. That will revert by $500 per child. Now they will have an additional $1,000 just on that alone. Because they are married, they attend church, they are committed to their faith, they are a great example of a family in our neighborhood and community, just based on the fact that they chose the course to get married, their taxes are going to be increased or they are going to have a tax penalty of 12 percent.”