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Tax the Childless

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51–54 of 54 posts

Re: Tax the Childless

#51

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.

> Because having kids benefits everyone

This is where economies are built. There is a premise that growth is dependent on population expansion. I think that assumption needs looking at in terms of standards of living and the future.

People are living longer but not contributing as much to society. As automation continues to take away low end jobs, we are going to have more people doing less.

We are moving from the r to the K side of r/K selection theory [1]. Our economies need to shift from quantity to quality. This is naturally happening but governments are trying to pump up growth with immigration and benefits for parents.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R/K_selection_theory

Re: Tax the Childless

#52

Genius. I can't think of a better idea than incentivising people to reproduce more and as soon as possible. This is exactly what the world needs. Some people might say that this is a puritanical and unacceptable meddling of the state in deeply personal choices, but I say fuck them! If we play our cards right we can evolve into being social insects in less than one century.

> I can't think of a better idea than incentivising people to reproduce more and as soon as possible And for those who can't...? Just keep penalising them to teach them a lesson? For 30 years I had no intimate or sexual relations with anyone. Not my choice by any means, but this proposal would have financially punished me because no-one else wanted to have a relationship with me. Thanks! A double-whammy of unhappines…

Of course. I was being sarcastic.

Re: Tax the Childless

#53
post #33

This would get crushed under bureaucracy, as there would need to be a ton of exceptions. Males with Cystic Fibrosis have a 98% infertility rate. So you'd essentially be taxing someone based on their genetic makeup.

Sure, but since were giving money away why not adopt.

Perhaps the underlying reason for not being able to have kids makes adoption a poor choice. In CF, for example, the average life expectancy is about 40.

Re: Tax the Childless

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whether or not it is an "integral societal good" depends on the child's upbringing and its eventual contribution to society, neither of which are guaranteed to be positive. In fact, by doing this, you would be encouraging more people (including ones who are ill suited) to raise children merely to pay less taxes, and consequently have more numbers, but less utility.

no parent would recommend having a child to pay less taxes.

... and no parent would have more kids just to receive more welfare money. Oh, wait.
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