Description
Liberals and conservatives will never agree on all things. In his new book, Laurence Seidman does not pretend otherwise. Instead, Seidman identifies several key issues on which policy agreement might be possible. Using evidence of successful government actions such as the earned income tax credit (EITC), which was conceived as a work bonus by conservatives and was sufficiently funded by liberals, Pouring Liberal Wine into Conservative Bottles is a critical, and hopeful, examination of public policy.
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Citing the Earned Income Tax Credit as an example, Seidman (economics, U. of Delaware) promotes a strategy of liberal-conservative policy reconciliation in which sufficient funding (liberal "wine") is poured into a conservative "bottle," a policy consistent with conservative values. He argues that such a refundable tax credit strategy can be applied to issues of saving, education, and health insurance for working families. He then considers similar approaches to other issues, including a consumption surtax with a very high exemption as a supplement to the personal income tax and a progressive value-added tax, combining conservative preferences for consumption taxes with liberal preferences for progressive taxes. Finally, he proposes four Medicare reforms: income-related patient cost-sharing, earmarked financing, collective pre-funding, and equitable cost-effective rationing. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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