OPINION:
With the new COVID-19-relief stimulus deal adding $1.9 trillion to our ever-ballooning federal debt, I would like to suggest a proposal that would offer at least a modicum of accountability (which would actually provide financial relief for struggling Americans). How about for anyone or any business that owes the federal government money from back taxes or student loans, a one-time, 50% lump-sum discount payment to settle the debt? For example, if a married couple owed $18,000 in back taxes, if they could find their way to accumulating $9,000 in cash, that would settle their debt.
As I see it, getting a one-time stimulus check falls far shorter of economic relief than having the opportunity to take high-interest, long-term debt off one’s balance sheet. And the immediate cash infusion that this would provide to the Treasury could at least offset part of the debt accumulated by these stimulus checks.
EUGENE R. DUNN
Medford, N.Y.
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