The child care tax credit promotes work by providing tax relief for an important category of work-related costs.

If ever we need evidence of ideology run rampant, the House vote to eliminate the annual American Community Survey and the Economic Census to provide basic information on the state of businesses and industries in the country and data used for generating quarterly gross domestic product estimates is exhibit A.

We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.

The good news is that much of Santorum's plan is centered on lowering taxes. The bad news is that much of his tax relief is either welfare in disguise, or social engineering.

At this AEI event, Representative Tom Petri (R-Wisc.) will discuss the combined impact of low-income tax credits on work incentives.

Approximately 140 million federal tax returns were filed in the weeks and months leading up to April 18 this year. We know from past years that over one-third of taxpayers will file "non-taxable returns," meaning that they will not owe any federal income tax.

Replacing all of the seven different tax credits allowed under the current tax code with a simple policy holds significant promise.

The maze of tax credits that are typically available to low-income individuals under the tax code needs simplifying.