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February 13, 2024
The Awfulness of Elite Hypocrisy on Marriage
…face penalties as high as almost one-third of their total household income. Policy makers in Congress could tackle penalties in means-tested programs such as Medicaid and public housing by doubling the income…
February 9, 2024
Don’t Buy the Soulmate Myth
…shows and books, from the latest offerings on the Hallmark Channel to Elizabeth Gilbert’s mega-bestseller, “Eat, Pray, Love.” This model is based on the idea of finding a “soulmate”—that special…
February 9, 2024
The Upside of the College Enrollment Downswing
Enrollment in education after high school peaked in 2010, with 21 million students enrolling in two-or four-year degree programs that fall. Since then, enrollment has steadily declined, and even projections that predict…
February 7, 2024
The Past and Future of Education Reform
…and technical, and given that everyone agreed that taxpayers needed to be protected, Republican lawmakers gave the executive branch immense discretion to set repayment terms. (This turned out to be…
January 12, 2024
Congress Shouldn’t Expand Welfare in Return for Corporate Tax Cuts
…government. Disconnecting tax credits from work could end up doing long-run damage to the very children policy-makers are trying to help. The closed-doors discussion to bring back elements of the 2021 Child…
January 11, 2024
Tax Credit Nation — Politicians Are Casting New Spending As ‘Tax Cuts,’ Hiding Their True Cost
…benefits. According to a Tax Foundation analysis, between 1990 and 2020 the value of tax credits “increased nearly 10-fold after adjusting for inflation, reflecting how lawmakers have increasingly relied on the tax…
January 11, 2024
To Better Promote Work, Stop Subsidizing More Benefit Collection
…of other government benefits in determining eligibility. Yet liberal policymakers today are proposing not only massive federal benefit increases, but also ensuring that growing largess is ignored by programs designed…
January 10, 2024
Even Congress’s “Tax Extenders” Are About More Benefits
Congress’s long list of unfinished business for the new year includes “tax extender” legislation, which is normally considered before lawmakers adjourn for the holidays in December. The fact that this…
January 9, 2024
Let’s Expand the Child Tax Credit a Little Bit
…child from its current level of $2,000. Some lawmakers want to expand the child tax credit massively. Others don’t. There’s a middle course that involves moderately growing the credit, mostly by folding…
January 9, 2024
The Success Sequence for Unmarried Mothers
…milestones later in life, such as getting married, completing high school, and working full-time, offers families a realistic path out of poverty. Federal policymakers should prioritize these factors when designing…