I first saw this in a long New York Times magazine piece about Newt Gingrich. Last week a Republican friend of mine (yes, I have a few) asked me about it. This article is well-worth reading in full.
Frum is not the only Republican on the case. “If you want a quick answer to the question what would I do,” Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, said recently, “I’d have a payroll-tax holiday for a year or two. That would put taxes in the hands of everybody who has a job, whether they pay income taxes or not.” Other Republican politicians and conservative publicists have made similar noises. They haven’t made it a rallying point, though; it would, after all, shape the over-all tax system in a progressive direction.
A tax holiday on payroll taxes is a great idea. It is a much more focused and effective stimulus program. It’s interesting that for all the talk of conservatives about the government taking “your” money, they have only focused on the income tax, and most heavily on investment income. I’m sure that’s coincidence.
Snarkiness aside, this is a worthy idea that I hope becomes a rallying cry of the GOP.