The long-term decline in the share of American children born to a married mother signals a fundamental disruption in the long-standing stability of the traditional family, the foremost institution shaping each generation of children. Moreover, some married couples find it difficult to afford having their desired number of children or relying on one parent to be a full-time homemaker.

Reforming the earned income tax credit (EITC) presents an opportunity to reverse the decline in two-parent families and make parenting within marriage more affordable. To encourage marriage and marital child-rearing and provide working- and middle-class families with more options in combining work and parenting, EITC eligibility should be tied to individual earnings rather than the earnings of the tax unit. The existing EITC schedules for families with different numbers of children would apply to each spouse; each spouse could count all children in the family. This change would not affect single-parent beneficiaries, but it would markedly increase the benefits available to married couples.