Toward a Pro-Family Tax Policy

June 30, 2010

By Brandon Dutcher

In an important article in the current issue of The Family in America ("A Capital Catastrophe: Why a Little-Noticed Crisis Portends Economic Disaster"), Bryce J. Christensen highlights "the irreplaceable role of the intact family in fostering social capital formation" and argues that lawmakers could boost long-term economic prosperity if they would stop favoring tax-subsidized fractured families at the expense of heavily taxed intact families.

Dr. Christensen is correct. And, as is usually the case in Oklahoma, good policy also happens to be good politics. A scientific telephone survey of 1,000 likely voters registered in Oklahoma was conducted February 25 through March 8, 2010 by SoonerPoll, the same firm that conducts the "Oklahoma Poll" for the Tulsa World. The poll, which was commissioned by OCPA, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The surveyor asked this question:

"Now thinking about early-childhood policy in Oklahoma, assuming the state government had a limited amount of money, which of the following do you believe should take precedence?"

• Increasing daycare subsidies for families when professional childcare is used for their young child(ren) ... 25 percent

• Redirecting a portion of the daycare subsidies toward a tax break for families in which one parent stays home with young child(ren) ... 61 percent

• Don't Know/Refused ...14 percent

It's time for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services budget to get a little smaller, and for your family budget to get a little bigger.

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