Michael R. Strain, Columnist

To Help Families, Don't Cut Their Taxes

Republicans are wise to focus instead on business investment, and the productivity and wage increases that come from it.

November 8, 2017 at 1:00 PM UTC

By Michael R. Strain

Michael R. Strain is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is director of economic policy studies and Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).”

There's a better way.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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The House Republicans’ tax proposal focuses mostly on increasing business investment. Many critics of the bill think it should lean more heavily towards providing immediate tax relief to American families. I’m not one of them.

Over the long term, individual income tax cuts wouldn't do nearly as much for families as encouraging business investment, and the productivity and wage increases that come from it.