Two-parent households should be a policy goal
theatlantic.com
Two-parent households should be a policy goal
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Re: Two-parent households should be a policy goal
#2The tax credits for married people here in the US seem to be part of this type of policy, no?
Re: Two-parent households should be a policy goal
#3Re: Two-parent households should be a policy goal
#4The tax credits for married people here in the US seem to be part of this type of policy, no?
Being single parent can also file for the deduction. Receiving supposal and child support after tax also encourages divorce, which also encourages the benefiting party not to go to work or do works that doesn't pay taxes. I'd say the current policy is more encouraging of divorce than two-parent household.
Re: Two-parent households should be a policy goal
#5The tax credits for married people here in the US seem to be part of this type of policy, no?
There are no U.S. tax credits per se for married vs. unmarried taxpayers. Depending on the relative incomes of two spouses, there can be a so-called "marriage penalty" or "marriage reward" from combining two incomes on a joint return, but that alone probably has very little impact on whether people choose to get or remain married.
In fact, a large chunk of existing tax law deals with all the possible combinations of households with children and parents, where the parents may or may not be living together, and may or may not be married to each other. It is designed to fairly accomodate unmarried people, not to encourage marriage.
Re: Two-parent households should be a policy goal
#6The tax credits for married people here in the US seem to be part of this type of policy, no?
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Re: Two-parent households should be a policy goal
#7The tax credits for married people here in the US seem to be part of this type of policy, no?
There are still tax disadvantages for some married couples (used to be all, assuming both worked).
However, there are also plenty of welfare programs that are means tested so marriage is ruled out.
(One of the leading theories for the number of babies born out of wedlock rising so much since the early 1960s is the end of the shotgun wedding: the baby daddy counters by pointing out that the mom will lose out on a lot of benefits if she gets married)
Re: Two-parent households should be a policy goal
#8Can't read the article even with archive.ph, but do they have an analysis of why relationships break down?
Re: Two-parent households should be a policy goal
#9Serious question: why not three parent? Does every stable relationship involve sexual aspects? Seems like an article stating an obvious fact but missing the bigger picture
Re: Two-parent households should be a policy goal
#10I don't think that's been sociologically plausible for many decades. Some things are easy to tear down and nearly impossible to build back up.
In some circles, the mere suggestion that this should be a policy goal is insulting, as it hints that single-parent homes are inferior. Our government isn't really allowed to prefer one over the other, even if it would result in less misery.
Furthermore, the tools that government has at its disposal to encourage two-parent households are few and clumsy. No decision to stay together has ever hinged on a slightly higher tax exemption, or some other priority access to the bureaucracy.
The writer's room of some Hollywood sitcom has more power than Congress in these matters. I doubt very much that they are interested in giving up on the show that makes jokes that discourage such, but even if they did, that's one show when the real culprit is the entire weight of the entertainment industry.
We might as well talk about how it should be a policy goal to raise the speed of light to 750,000 miles per second.