The Failure of Partisan Approaches to Economic Opportunity | Capital Commentary

The Failure of Partisan Approaches to Economic Opportunity | Capital Commentary by Michael Gerson.  MGB: Tax policy is the nexus of the problems in the labor market. When taxes on the return on investment (dividends and capital gains) are too low, as they are now, determined efforts are made to cut labor costs to reward investors - leading to personal rewards for CEOs (either through stock, dividend or wage compensation).  The higher the tax, the less the incentive.  Given anemic wage growth since the Bush tax cuts, reversing these is the first step in recovery, especially at the higher end.  The second is to increase tax benefits for families (the one thing Bush did well).  We need to consolidate such tax benefits into one place (including the mortgage interest deduction) so there is an explicit incentive to do more in terms of family support (which also solves our demographic issues in Social Security in the long term).  Such tax reform could also be used to channel money directly to private accredited schools and health care - so that available public services increase without increasing government.