The American Appetite for Government – American Compass
“Republicans do not support cutting the major entitlement and safety-net programs that conservative politicians and think tanks have long targeted.
- Social Security is overwhelmingly popular: 81% of Republicans call it ‘one of our nation’s greatest achievements’ rather than ‘a disaster’; only 22% consider it ‘welfare’; only 7% say the federal government should ‘do less’ in ‘support for the elderly through Medicare and Social Security,’ compared with 57% who say it should ‘do more.’
- Pluralities of Republicans also support more safety-net and health care spending, with fewer than 25% saying government at any level should ‘do less’ in ‘support for the poor, disabled, needy’ or ‘medical care for those who need help affording insurance.'”
“A pro-family policy package should:
“Support children in need. Poverty has a detrimental impact on children’s development and later life outcomes. The 2021 expansion of the CTC was responsible for a major reduction in child poverty. The provisions increasing the generosity of the credit and eliminating the earnings requirement were the most important drivers of this reduction.2 The main lesson is that future proposals should continue to focus on boosting benefits for the lowest-income families.
“Support marriage. Children do best when raised in two-parent families. Family formation is a complex process, but one of the factors that hinders marriage are penalties in our tax and transfer system, particularly for couples with children.3 Reducing or eliminating these marriage penalties should be part and parcel of future proposals to expand family tax benefits.
“Support parental choice. Parents have a range of options when it comes to balancing work and family life. In some households, both parents work full-time, while others prefer one parent to work full-time while the other cares for children at home. Some households prefer center-based care while others prefer home-based or relative care. Reforming tax benefits to avoid privileging some arrangements over others and achieve child care pluralism is an important goal for family policy.4
“Support upward mobility. The proliferation of income-tested programs, which phase out as household earnings rise, has helped reduce child poverty but also increased implicit marginal tax rates (IMTR) on poor and working-class families. Reforms to the tax and transfer system in the 1990s reduced IMTRs on those moving from welfare to work but increased them on working families striving to join the middle class.5 Reducing these high implicit marginal tax rates should be a priority in the overhaul of family tax benefits.”
Americans also should receive credit toward Social Security eligibility and benefits for hours they work caring for young children at home.