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Originally Posted by JJRousseau
Oh Yakk. That's so disappointing...  raising a young family IS productive.
But that isn't all this is about. It accepts the fact that a family is a unit. Family income should be taxed as a unit. Currently a household where two spouses make $70,000 and $30,000 respectively pay more tax than a household where each makes $50,000. If you respect the family unit, that makes no sense. |
Raising your family is not your entire life, because raising a family does not require anywhere close to an entire lifetime's worth of work.
And this isn't about raising a family -- this is
marriage -- raising a family requires children, being in a marriage doesn't. If you allowed income splitting with your children, that would be different than allowing income splitting with your spouse.
And no, the family is not a unit -- the family is a collection of individuals, the adults of which have chosen to merge their their finances, and the children of which are guardianed by the parents. Being in a family should provide
shot cuts to many useful financial "tricks" and agreements that society deems useful.
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Let's take a look at who this change benefits, and who it doesn't.
Two 50,000$ income people gain nothing from this.
One 100,000$ income single parent gains nothing from this.
A small gain is generated for a 30,000$ income and 70,000$ income family.
The largest gains, in terms of tax avoided, are given for 200,000$ income plus 0$ income style families. Going from 150,000$ and 50,000$ to 200,000$ and 0$ is now equivilent, except now the 0$ person leaves the work force and is statistically unlikely to return.
Any decrease in taxes by one group results in increased liability for everyone else. Currently, people who choose the stay-at-home spouse route gain the benefits of the stay-at-home parent's work tax free. Ie, suppose it would cost 30,000$ per year to get equivilent care to a stay-at-home parent. The stay-at-home parent will have to earn 40,000$ per year, pre-taxes, to pay for the 30,000$ per year for the equivilent to staying at home.
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I understand that "family good" instincts say "we should shovel money at people who behave like families!", and that arguing against things framed in that way makes you seem like a bad person. But changes to the tax system should be more than just sound bites -- they should be aimed at making taxation more efficient and less likely to discourage production.