"Expanding voter participation is of the utmost importance to me and this interactive site is an important step in that process. Since algore2000.com launched in April 1999, over 250,000 questions or comments have been posted here. Given the overwhelming response, not every question can get an answer, but there will be a wide variety of issues addressed here for your review.'

You can either submit a question here or enter the Gore-Lieberman / Speakout.com Interactive Town Hall and express your opinions on multiple issues with us.

Town Hall Question



From: Robin Rogers
Wrentham, MA
To: townhall@algore2000.com

My husband is the sole provider of my family. We have two sons and I have decided to stay home with them. Because only one spouse works in our family, are we considered a "working family" by your definition? And when will my family be "rewarded" for my decision to stay home as opposed to rewarding those families with dual incomes? My husband and I are getting taxed brutally and we are a one-income family. Is government forgetting the "traditional" family?

Thank you for taking part in my electronic town hall, Robin. My tax cuts are aimed at hard-working, middle-income families like yours, whether those families have one wage earner or two. My plan aims to help families where they feel the hardest hit, reducing the income tax burden on the typical middle-class family to the lowest it has been in more than 50 years. I believe we need to help all hard-working families, including those who choose to have one parent stay at home.

My plans will extend the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to parents who stay at home with children in the first year of life by allowing them to claim assumed childcare expenses of $500. I will also eliminate the "motherhood penalty" by giving credit in the Social Security system to parents who choose to stay home or work part time, for up to five years spent raising children. The years spent raising children will be counted as if the caregiver earned one-half of the average wage for each year. Although the value of raising children cannot be quantified, this proposal will help ensure that all women are rewarded equally for years spent raising children.

Other parts of my tax plan will benefit a family like yours, including elimination of the marriage penalty by increasing the standard deduction for married couples to twice that of singles. To help you and your husband save for retirement, I will offer tax-free Retirement Savings Plus accounts with a progressive match of savings to ensure that those families who need help the most get it. I will also offer a $10,000 tax deduction or $2,800 tax credit for college tuition. As president, I will always work to make the tax code fairer to our hard-working families.

While growing up in Wisconsin, I was extremely fortunate to attend excellent public schools from kindergarten through high school. I have recently moved out of the Midwest and am concerned that my children will not have the same opportunity to have quality public education because of the state in which we live. I would like to know if you are committed to improving AND equalizing the standards of education across ALL states and if so, how your education reform plan will achieve this.

Thank you for your question, Jen. Education is the cornerstone of our democracy and prosperity. With 90 percent of America's students in public schools, we have a responsibility to improve public education everywhere. By demanding high standards from all our schools, teachers and students, we can make revolutionary improvements in all public schools.

My plan will require states and school districts to identify failing schools and put in place an aggressive plan to turn those schools around, with strict accountability for results, and strong incentives for success. I will expand public school choice, triple the number of charter schools and require schools to issue performance report cards to help parents select the right school for their children and hold schools accountable for student performance. I will also ensure that schools adopt firm, fair discipline policies.

We should treat teachers like the professionals they are and hold them to high professional standards. My plan will make sure there is a qualified teacher in every classroom and hold teachers to high professional standards, requiring rigorous testing for all new teachers.

We also must demand more from all of our students. My plan will require states to test all public school students in reading and math at least three times between third grade and graduation. I will also improve efforts to keep kids in school and close the gap between disadvantaged students and their peers.

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