Unpopular Opinion

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Parents Should Pay Higher Taxes (lemmy.world)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by corroded@lemmy.world to c/unpopularopinion@lemmy.world

107 comments fedilink hide all child comments

As is stands, parents are able to claim their children as dependents on their tax returns, which lowers their overall tax liability and in effect means that the parents either pay less in taxes or receive a higher return at the end of each year.

Until they reach the age at which they can work, children are a drain on society. They receive public schooling and receive the same benefit from public services that adults do, yet they contribute nothing in return. At the point that they reach maturity and are gainfully employed and paying taxes, they become a functioning member of society.

If a parent decides to have a child, they are making a conscious decision to produce another human being. They could choose to get a sterilization surgery, use birth control, or abort the pregnancy (assuming they don't live in a backwards state that's banned it). Yet even if they decide to have 15 children, the rest of society has to foot the bill for their poor decisions until the child reaches adulthood.

By increasing taxes on parents instead of reducing them, you not only incentivize safe sex and abortion, but you shift the burden of raising a child solely to the individuals who are responsible for the fact that that child exists.

I am a strong advocate for social programs: Single-payer healthcare, welfare programs, low-income housing, etc, but for adults who in turn contribute what they can. A child should only be supported by the individuals who created it.

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[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 36 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

"The government should disincentivize making more citizens and make it much more expensive to do so" is a take that definitely belongs here.

Until they reach the age at which they can work, children are a drain on society. They receive public schooling and receive the same benefit from public services that adults do, yet they contribute nothing in return.

"Future citizens are a drain in society until they aren't, so we should make their caregivers pay more to the government while they're also paying out the nose to raise them"

By increasing taxes on parents instead of reducing them, you not only incentivize safe sex and abortion, but you shift the burden of raising a child solely to the individuals who are responsible for the fact that that child exists.

"We should be actively sabotaging our society by destroying the incentives to make the next generation"

I am a strong advocate for social programs: Single-payer healthcare, welfare programs, low-income housing, etc, but for adults who in turn contribute what they can. A child should only be supported by the individuals who created it.

"If you can't support your child on your own while paying higher* taxes, good fucking luck birther"

[–] Cerothen@lemmy.ca 4 points 7 months ago

I read it as we should tax OP more for all the years that they were a drain on society to make up for all the tax breaks that they got.

As it is people like this should consider that "paying taxes to support other people's kids" is really just them paying everyone back for when they were a kid.

But yes society needs people of all ages and without young people there would eventually be a collapse.