TAX CUTS AND SOCIAL SECURITY: DO IT ALL

Against the urgings of many in the national news media who trumpet polling purporting to show that Americans don't care, congressional Republicans seem to be recovering their bearings when it comes to the need for tax cuts. This is good, both for the Republicans and, more importantly, for the nation.

Americans are paying taxes at record levels for peacetime. Among the reasons there are so many mothers of young children working outside the home, and the fact that two incomes are hard-pressed to supply the standard of living that one did in the 1950s, are these high taxes. If women want to work in jobs even when they have young children at home then as Americans they should have that option. But high taxes shouldn't drive them into the workplace when they would rather stay home with young children.

House Republicans are saying the federal budget surplus is so huge that Congress can cut taxes by nearly $1 trillion and still brace Social Security and Medicare for baby boomer retirements. In this the Republicans are onto something that can simultaneously be good politics and good policy. Americans will be watching to see whether they really mean it and are willing to push it in the face of the inevitable demagoguery from the usual quarters.

If congressional Republicans show the courage of their convictions, they may be surprised at the reaction from the American people. Stock ownership, either directly or indirectly through participation in a tax-favored retirement plan, is higher than ever and rising faster. With this new fact of financial life, there is less tolerance than ever among the public for traditional Democratic soak-the-rich rhetoric.