I get why people like the idea of family tax breaks,it sounds direct, helpful, almost moral. But when you zoom out, it’s like patching a leaky boat instead of building a stronger one. You can’t tax-cut your way into a healthy middle class.
We’ve forgotten how powerful real growth is. If wages go up because people are more productive, that sticks. But when we just hand out tax credits, it feels good in the short term and leaves the next generation holding the debt. That’s not “pro-family,” that’s just short-term politics in a nice wrapper.
If NatCons want to help families, they should fight for the stuff that actually moves the needle long term,like better education, affordable childcare, real skills training, and letting businesses grow. Raising incomes through growth isn't neoliberal, it’s just basic economics.
Rob, no question we have to get the Deficits down. But spending to help nuclear families is extremely important based on all the information on how much better kids turn out with 2 parent families. Hard to fit into an econometric model, but turning out unproductive young adults doesn't help productivity or growth.
Probably can’t hurt. But the real issue is priorities. I would rather invest in productivity tech rather than tax handouts. Also any evidence that these kinds of tax cuts encourage people to get married? Have kids?
Well, we did learn that setting up welfare to single mothers but not couples caused them to split up or never marry. And now getting married isn't considered important. Maybe we need an experiment amongst different States.
I get why people like the idea of family tax breaks,it sounds direct, helpful, almost moral. But when you zoom out, it’s like patching a leaky boat instead of building a stronger one. You can’t tax-cut your way into a healthy middle class.
We’ve forgotten how powerful real growth is. If wages go up because people are more productive, that sticks. But when we just hand out tax credits, it feels good in the short term and leaves the next generation holding the debt. That’s not “pro-family,” that’s just short-term politics in a nice wrapper.
If NatCons want to help families, they should fight for the stuff that actually moves the needle long term,like better education, affordable childcare, real skills training, and letting businesses grow. Raising incomes through growth isn't neoliberal, it’s just basic economics.
Rob, no question we have to get the Deficits down. But spending to help nuclear families is extremely important based on all the information on how much better kids turn out with 2 parent families. Hard to fit into an econometric model, but turning out unproductive young adults doesn't help productivity or growth.
Probably can’t hurt. But the real issue is priorities. I would rather invest in productivity tech rather than tax handouts. Also any evidence that these kinds of tax cuts encourage people to get married? Have kids?
Well, we did learn that setting up welfare to single mothers but not couples caused them to split up or never marry. And now getting married isn't considered important. Maybe we need an experiment amongst different States.