WH Tax Punishes Moms Outside Labor Force

The $320 billion tax increase the president will propose tonight in his State of the Union address reveals his "tax policy as power and punishment, tax policy as vengeance" mindset, argues Ira Stoll.

...how this administration approaches tax policy not from the point of view of raising the revenues necessary to run the government, and not from the view of creating the maximum incentives for growth and innovations, but rather as a kind of zero-sum, redistributionist means of political warfare.

A few items Mr. Stoll considers particularly punishing:

• "one earner" families would pay higher taxes so that "two-earner" families could get a $500 "second earner" tax credit along with a tripled "child care" tax credit;
• high earners who have saved money in Individual Retirement Accounts all their lives would see their retirement accounts taxed retroactively; and
• families who have saved 529 college savings accounts for their children would be taxed when they withdraw the funds to pay for their children's college bills.

Calling it "Destructive Social Engineering," the editors at National Review Online write that the tax code is already heavily biased against saving and investment, and Mr. Obama's proposal would make it even worse. Moreover, his plan takes a gratuitous slap at mothers outside the paid labor force:

Most mothers, especially of small children, prefer to work part-time or drop out of the labor force for a time. Commercial child care is the least favored option for most parents. The president's plan encourages families to do what they do not wish to do and penalizes them for refusing.

 UPDATE: See also Obama Tax Hike on College Savings Plans Breaks Middle Class Tax Pledge