(02-03-2020, 11:40 PM)EricC85 Wrote:

(02-02-2020, 03:28 PM)mikesez Wrote: I wonder how long ago they decided that a family's income tax rate should be reduced based on how many kids they have.
Many times I've heard people justifying it as society needs kids and we should encourage people to have them.
It's obvious that society needs kids. But I'm not sure those little tax incentives really cause more women to get pregnant and carry their pregnancies to completion.

I’m going to assume you have no children and don’t understand the tax rate adjustments for families versus single individuals?

There’s the earned income credit which replaced welfare monthly payments from the federal government (it like all other welfare programs is directly related to the size of the household vs income). Then there is the child tax credit which reduces the taxable income based upon family size. The argument is pretty easy to follow a family of 4 living on 60k is going to require more disposable income then a single individual making 60k therefore the amount of income taxes they pay is reduced proportionally by the size of the household.

Even under flat tax or fair tax plans the size of a household is factored in, I’m not aware of any tax system ever that did not recognize this basic principle?

I have two kids and did my own taxes for the first 8 or 9 years of my marriage, including the first 3 years of my daughter's life.  I'm grateful for the little tax break, it makes sense too because I do need the money to take care of them. However if I know one thing about Congress, they don't ever get together and start a conversation with "hey let's do something that makes sense" or  "let's help some people out who are having a problem."
Its usually "let's do something to put the President in a tight spot" or "let's screw over the other party."

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