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Tax the Childless

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Re: Tax the Childless

#11

Post by TulliusCicero »

donutdan4114 wrote: post #6

I'm not sure why government taxes should care whether someone has kids or not, it is your choice. If you can't afford to have kids, you probably shouldn't have kids. It's easy to be in a painful situation and come to a conclusion "Things should work this way because that would benefit me". There are other things the government should do, such as tax breaks for students, and people with student loans - fostering growt…

"I'm not sure why government taxes should care whether someone has kids or not, it is your choice. If you can't afford to have kids, you probably shouldn't have kids."

Because having kids benefits everyone. It's an integral societal good with a staggeringly high individual cost. There's a reason western European countries give such generous benefits to parents like lengthy maternity/paternity leaves.

Re: Tax the Childless

#12

Post by coin »

Or perhaps tax those with children, since they draw more public services. Having children is (most of the time) a choice. If you don't have the financial resources to support offspring, the don't have them. Note: I have (and chose to have) two daughters. My financial situation was one of the inputs into the decision.

Re: Tax the Childless

#13

Post by randunel »

In Europe, this is already implemented. Parents get subsidies and cash money for every child they have, while childless hard working citizens get nothing. This idea is not new, it's already in place :P

Re: Tax the Childless

#15

Post by Aloha »

It's not my job to pay for others children, not thru direct taxation. I already pay a whole bunch of incidental socitial costs, and I'm OK with that - It's part of being a good citizen.

I chose not to breed - I have bad genetic stock, I don't think its wise for me to contribute my portion forward.

Re: Tax the Childless

#16

Post by baddox »

lutusp wrote: post #4

Yeah, great idea. The single most important world problem we face is overpopulation. Why not make it easier to have children than it already is? Why not tax those who made the right choice and give the money to those who made the wrong one? The Chinese have the right idea -- they encourage one child per family (an idea that works better in cities than in the countryside), against substantial public ignorance and resi…

> The single most important world problem we face is overpopulation.

Citation needed.

Re: Tax the Childless

#17

Post by cube_yellow »

lutusp wrote: post #4

Yeah, great idea. The single most important world problem we face is overpopulation. Why not make it easier to have children than it already is? Why not tax those who made the right choice and give the money to those who made the wrong one? The Chinese have the right idea -- they encourage one child per family (an idea that works better in cities than in the countryside), against substantial public ignorance and resi…

> The single most important world problem we face is overpopulation.

Bullshit. We'd need over 100 billion people on Earth for that to be anywhere near a sane thought. See, e.g.: http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/2006/09/overp...

Re: Tax the Childless

#18

Post by TulliusCicero »

mavdi wrote: post #7

As a parent all I can say is: What a load of shite. Enjoy your childless freedom, you have made the right choice. A child brings little joy to your life with eternal stress and worry and pain and sleepless nights and oh did I mention worry?

...this is exactly why policies like this are a good idea. Just looking at the costs in terms of time, money, and stress, having kids is a pretty irrational decision, so it's no surprise that in modern developed nations, birthrates are pretty low. Sub-replacement birthrates are bad for society. But we can choose to compensate with government policy.

Re: Tax the Childless

#19

Post by greenyoda »

throwawayaway wrote: post #5

is this not already the case? http://www.irs.gov/uac/Ten-Facts-about-the-Child-Tax-Credit in effect, i don't see any real difference, the author is just asking for more of the same. the author also assumes more children are a good thing. i think in the future people who look at china's one child policy as barbarism will change their mind.

The child tax credit is only one of the tax benefits that parents get. Here are two others:

- They get a deduction for each child (since they're dependents). This came to $3800 per child on the 2012 tax form (that amount is exempt from taxes).

- If your filing status is "head of household" (e.g., you have dependents), you pay lower tax rates than a single person.

Plus, there are similar benefits on state income taxes.

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