Byline: ANITA BLAIR AND BARBARA LEDEEN
In America today, the term ``working family'' is practically an oxymoron. You can work, or you can have a family life, but having both is a real stretch, as most people who have tried it know.
Women -- who want to remain close to their children and also enjoy economic security -- will support public policies that allow families to ``work.''
Many groups that claim to represent women say that women want more and bigger government programs to protect their interests. Unfortunately the ``interests'' protected by big government programs are not those of women, but those of liberal advocacy groups, which are interested in taking money from the rest of us and using government power to force us to conform our lives to their ideology. Thanks, but no thanks.
We disagree with the premise that working women and families can't succeed without government help. While some women may believe that more government is the answer to their problems, many of us do understand that more government costs more money. The people who work and pay taxes can't afford and don't want to pay more taxes. If the choice is between having more government programs or keeping our money, we'd rather keep our money to spend on our families in the way we choose.
Some of the most serious problems confronting families are moral and cultural issues. The anti-family ideology reflected in many government programs has contributed to those problems, such as the increase in births to unwed teenagers. Many, if not most, women recognize that other social institutions, such as churches, community groups and families themselves, can address moral and cultural problems far more effectively than government programs can.
We believe that people should be free to do what they want to do with their own lives, and be responsible for the choices they make. Every American family should have the freedom and the basic tools to be able to work and live as they want; to keep more of what they earn; to borrow money, save and invest; and to own property that they can use themselves or pass on to their children.
These goals can be achieved by women, men and families, but only if government works for them and not the other way around. Here are 10 simple things Congress can do now to help working women and families get what they want and need.
Problem:Because of federal labor laws, employers can't let employees design their own flex-time work schedules and take compensatory time in lieu of overtime pay. For parents, particularly women, this means they can't arrange work to fit family and personal needs.
Solution: Amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to permit private businesses and state governments to give employees the same comp time and flex-time privileges that federal employees have enjoyed for years.
Problem: Because of the cost of payroll taxes, unemployment taxes, workers compensation and other mandated benefits, employers (especially small businesses) can't afford to hire additional employees. This has many adverse effects: Small businesses can't grow, existing employees are asked to work longer hours, and potential new employees can't get work.
Solution: Reduce the costs of payroll taxes and benefits to business and workers. Experts estimate that a one point reduction in the payroll tax would create 400,000 new jobs. Making payroll taxes deductible (like state and federal taxes) would reduce the cost of labor and increase take-home pay.
Problem: Many people, especially those with family responsibilities, prefer to work on a temporary, part-time or consulting basis. But under current IRS rules, businesses may be liable for payroll taxes if they engage part-time workers or consultants.
Solution: Amend IRS rules on independent contractors. The current rules are still too vague. Individuals should be allowed to voluntarily declare themselves independent contractors and agree to be responsible for their own taxes and benefits.
Problem: Many people, especially mothers with small children, prefer home-based work, so that they don't have to send children to day care.
Solution: Amend labor rules on piece work and similar ``cottage industries'' and simplify IRS rules on home office and home computer deductions.
Problem: Medical insurance costs too much, and costs keep rising. Many people without access to employer-paid coverage can't afford medical insurance coverage. Recent health insurance ``reforms'' do little for the self-employed or those whose employers offer less coverage than they want or need.
Solution: Amend tax laws on deductibility of medical insurance. There is no good reason why only employers can deduct insurance expenses. Workers should be able to contract for their own health insurance (including establishing their own medical savings accounts) and get the same tax treatment as if they received the benefit from their employers. When patients can act like real consumers, insurance and medical costs will go down.
Problem: Many mothers are forced to work, or work longer hours, because of the high costs of educating children.
Solution: Bring school costs down by deregulating education. Many college degrees would not be needed if children received a high-quality education in the K-12 years. Other ways to make a good education more affordable include school choice, vouchers and tax-free savings programs (``individual college accounts'').
Problem: Family businesses, including farms, often have to be dissolved to pay estate taxes.
Solution: Eliminate estate taxes on family-owned property and enterprises (better yet, eliminate estate taxes entirely).
Problem: Generous welfare benefits for non-workers demean the working poor. A substantial part of their paychecks goes to subsidize people who don't work.
Solution: Increase adult and child exemptions to a realistic level, and index for inflation. Better yet, fundamental tax reform, such as a Flat Tax plan, could establish an indexed, fair earnings ceiling that would be exempt from tax altogether.
Problem: The marriage penalty and graduated tax rates take more money from families with two earners.
Solution: A Flat Tax would resolve these and many other problems of inequity and needless complication in the tax code.
Problem: Many people (especially women and families) want to start or expand a small business, but find it very hard to obtain capital.
Solution: Eliminate government debt. Balance the budget. If people don't have to compete with the government as a borrower, they will have access to more money at better rates. Also eliminate unnecessary regulations and reform the legal system -- both of which make it too expensive to run a small business today.
Well, we said our ideas were ``simple''; we didn't say they were ``easy.'' But American women and families work very hard -- too hard for all the good they get out of it. If Congress worked a little harder and passed these kinds of reforms, working women and families would sit up and take notice -- and vote for the folks who did it.
Anita Blair is executive vice president and Barbara Ledeen is executive director of the Independent Women's Forum, a Washington-based policy organization.
