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Subject: Sheeezzzzz..... Your tax dollars at work? Author: Dez [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] Date Posted: 12:11:13 03/01/07 Thu California bill would give all state's newborns a $500 savings account Don Thompson / Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Every child born in California would get a $500 savings account to start building a nest egg for college or a down payment for a home, under a state Senate bill introduced Wednesday. California would be the first state with such a program, said David Lesher, a program director for the nonprofit New America Foundation, based in Washington. A national savings program has languished in Congress since 2005; a similar program has increased savings in Britain since 2002. Under the bill, every child born in California after Jan. 1, 2008, would receive the money, regardless of their parents' income or immigration status. Recipients would have to repay the state's initial $500 investment once they turn 18. The money may be used for three purposes: college or continuing education, a down payment on a home, or a retirement account. The proposal would cost the state's taxpayers about $285 million a year. About 566,000 children are expected to be born in California next year. "This is the essence of equal opportunity. Every child, every person ought to get a head start," said Sen. Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat who introduced the bill with Republican Sen. Bob Dutton. If families added $50 a month to the state's initial contribution, the savings account would grow to nearly $17,500 at 5 percent interest over 18 years. That would promote saving money in a culture that now is carrying record levels of debt and has the lowest savings rate since the Great Depression, Steinberg said. "It sounds like another give-away with other people's money -- 'a chicken in every pot,'" said Jim Uhler, spokesman for The National Tax Limitation Committee. "With the budget in the red again ... we have other pressing issues." [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]