Over at National Review Online, IWF’s Carrie Lukas provides some advice for policymakers wishing to court women this election cycle:


“Financial pressure keeps many mothers reluctantly in full-time jobs. To reduce that pressure, policymakers should cut spending and lower taxes. As George Mason University’s Professor Todd Zywicki recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal, the typical family pays substantially more in taxes than the combined expenses of their mortgage, automobile, and health insurance. Zywicki also notes the “secondary earner bias” of our tax system, which causes all of a wife’s income to effectively be taxed at a much higher marginal rate than her husband’s. Easing this crushing tax burden would allow many more women to reduce their paid work.


“Policymakers also should consider how government drives up the cost of the products and services which families need. Barriers to trade increase the price of groceries and clothing, among other goods, and eat up the family budget. Children are forced into government-run schools based on their zip codes; so many families swallow high mortgages on homes in one of the few neighborhoods with “good” public schools. The extra debt and higher monthly payments compel many moms into the workforce.”


Read the whole article here.