LETTERS: STAY-AT-HOME SPOUSES NEED IRA BENEFITS TOO

To the editor:

How could that be? It is said a fountain cannot give forth both sweet water and bitter. Yet, according to the news media, Clinton is going after the feminine vote but at the same time cutting their homemaker-mother retirement fund. Yes, the homemakers are discriminated against.

Congress calls for more family life, demanding the mother to stay home and give her children stability. But, at the same time, the homemaker IRA was vetoed by Clinton, a refusal on his part to recognize the value of the stay-at-home mother.

As it now stands, where both husband and wife work outside the home, they are allowed to set aside $2,000 each, tax deductible, if their taxable income is below $40,000, for a total of $4,000 added to their retirement nest egg each year.

But, if one spouse stays home to raise their children and maintain the household, the couple is limited to tax deductions for a total annual IRA contribution of $2,250 -- $2,000 for the spouse who works outside the home and a meager $250 for the spouse who works in the home.

GWEN N. WINNINGHAM

Jackson