Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 25
CONSERVATISM AND THE REAL PROBLEMS OF INCOME INEQUALITY
income to the top 20 percent than for a child born in 1971. Nonetheless, the study did conclude that the rate of upward mobility has essentially flattened in recent years, despite periods of
economic growth and an expansion of welfare programs. This
stagnating rate of upward mobility is the primary conservative
concern, not simply the abstract levels of income differences.
F
uture conservative tax policy should focus on the needs of
the average American. This focus could include a significant
increase in the child tax credit, which would do more to provide
meaningful tax relief to middle- and working-class families than
any reduction in personal income tax rates.
Currently, the tax code works against parents, who have to pay
just as much in taxes as childless adults, even though the costs
parents incur in raising children constitute an additional contribution to the future of society. These costs are borne almost
entirely by the households doing the child-rearing, even though
the benefits that come when the children reach working age-
for example, through the social insurance systems-are broadly
shared by everyone in society. Therefore, the child tax credit
should try to compensate for this additional contribution, and it
should be applied against both income taxes and payroll taxes,
especially since most middle- and working-class parents pay
more in payroll than in income taxes.
Making the child tax credit applicable to payroll taxes suggests
yet another area of tax reform. For too long Republicans have
focused their tax-reform energies on the individual and corporate
income tax systems, on the assumption that payroll taxes cannot
be changed because they finance the social insurance programs.
But the largest tax most families face is the payroll tax, not the
25
Modern Age - Winter 2016
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Modern Age - Winter 2016
Contents
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - Cover1
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - Cover2
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - Contents
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 2
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 3
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 4
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 5
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 6
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 7
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 8
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 9
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 10
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 11
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 12
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 13
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 14
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 15
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 16
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 17
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 18
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 19
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 20
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 21
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 22
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 23
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 24
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 25
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 26
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 27
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 28
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 29
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 30
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 31
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 32
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 33
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 34
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 35
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 36
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 37
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 38
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 39
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 40
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 41
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 42
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 43
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 44
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 45
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 46
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 47
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 48
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 49
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 50
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 51
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 52
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 53
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 54
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 55
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 56
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 57
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 58
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 59
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 60
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 61
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 62
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 63
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 64
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 65
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 66
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 67
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 68
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 69
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 70
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 71
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 72
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 73
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 74
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 75
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 76
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 77
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 78
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 79
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 80
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 81
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 82
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 83
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 84
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 85
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 86
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 87
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 88
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 89
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 90
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 91
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 92
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 93
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 94
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 95
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 96
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 97
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 98
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 99
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 100
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 101
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 102
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 103
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 104
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 105
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 106
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 107
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 108
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 109
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 110
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 111
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 112
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 113
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 114
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 115
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 116
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 117
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 118
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 119
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 120
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 121
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 122
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 123
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 124
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 125
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 126
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 127
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 128
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 129
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 130
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 131
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 132
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 133
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 134
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 135
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 136
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 137
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 138
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 139
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 140
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 141
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 142
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 143
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 144
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 145
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 146
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 147
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 148
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 149
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 150
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 151
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 152
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 153
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 154
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 155
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 156
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 157
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 158
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 159
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 160
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - Cover3
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2018winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2015fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2014fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2014summer
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com