Why the Rubio-Lee tax plan is great politics — and great policy
It's about time conservative lawmakers started focusing on the middle class
The Republican Party has become the party of ideas again. You can see it in the new tax reform plan put out by Tea Party Sens. Mike Lee (Utah) and Marco Rubio (Fla.).
Their plan would simplify the income tax system, setting just two rates: 15 percent and 35 percent. More importantly, it would add a $2,500 child tax credit, refundable against both income and payroll taxes, to the existing $1,000 child tax credit. This means that even families that don't pay income taxes, but do pay payroll taxes (i.e. families who work), would benefit from the tax credit.
The plan also reforms corporate income taxes. The details are a bit too complex to get into here, but as Reihan Salam explains, this part is also very clever and well thought out, and would address the problem of crony capitalism.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Now, why is any of this a big deal?
It's a big deal, first of all, from a political perspective. Here are two Tea Party senators, one of whom is thought to be a strong candidate for the GOP's presidential nomination, saying that the Republican Party should stop focusing on cutting top income tax rates and instead focus on helping middle-class families. The plan cuts tax rates a little bit, but most of its "bang" is for middle-class families.
It's very important for the GOP to realize that the way to national electoral success is to be seen as on the side of the middle class. And that starts with bread-and-butter issues like taxes.
But Rubio and Lee's tax plan is also a big deal because expanding the child tax credit tackles a whole set of interlocking issues that are plaguing the country and, unlike heavy-handed progressive solutions, does so in a smart way.
America's lower and middle class suffers from a host of connected issues, especially lower social mobility, stagnating wages, and the decline of the family. The latter is of fundamental importance, since strong families provide an enormous host of economic, social, and cultural benefits, ranging from an inherent safety net, economies of scale, and especially incubating human capital — a.k.a. children, who are the people who are going to make the economy run in the future.
It's not enough to point to cultural changes, as too many conservatives do, as the sole cause of the decline of the family. There are also economic reasons. It's become harder to get married and stay married because it's become more expensive to do so — more expensive to have kids, and more expensive to move into the kind of stable middle-class jobs that so many Americans feel is a necessary prerequisite to founding a household.
A child tax credit obviously isn't a cure-all; but it's equally true that tax policy shapes our incentives, and affects our behavior. And a child tax credit that is not only expanded but refundable against income and payroll taxes — and therefore available to the lower and middle class —makes it easier to raise children and have a family life; we can expect to have more of that.
The family stands at the center of the American Dream. The American Dream, for the vast majority of Americans, starts with the ability to raise a family.
The Rubio-Lee plan is the right solution to pressing problems that too many Americans face and the pressing political problems the Republican Party faces.
I do not know who will be the next president of the United States. But I do know that the next Republican to be elected president of the United States will be elected on a platform very similar to this one, and that when it becomes law, it will measurably and enduringly improve the welfare of millions of Americans. And that is something to be celebrated.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry is a writer and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His writing has appeared at Forbes, The Atlantic, First Things, Commentary Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Federalist, Quartz, and other places. He lives in Paris with his beloved wife and daughter.
-
Fallout: one of the 'most faithful – and best – video game adaptations'
The Week Recommends This 'genre-bending' new Amazon series is set in a post-apocalyptic wilderness where survivors shelter below ground
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
'Test of faith for Trump Media's investors'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Will Iran attack hinder support for Ukraine?
Today's Big Question Pro-Kyiv allies cry 'hypocrisy' and 'double standards' even as the US readies new support package
By Elliott Goat, The Week UK Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published