Fellow childfree folks, how much did you love writing the check out to the IRS after hearing all the

[hfojvt]

132. there is an accursed tax credit of $1,000 per child

there is also the Earned Income Credit. A single person with a child (who would be able to file as Head of Household and thus get another standard deduction of $2,700) with an income of $28,000 would get an earned income credit of $1,200. A single person with three children and an income of $40,000 would pay no taxes AND get a refund (EIC) of $701.

($40,000 - $8,400 - ($3,700 * 4) = taxable income of $16,800 = tax of $1,934 (versus $2,113 for a single person with the same taxable income, this $200 tax savings coming after an extra $2,700 standard deduction and $3,700 per child) minus $3,000 in per child tax credits (line 51 of the 1040) = 0 in tax (or perhaps a refund, some of the child tax credits are refundable based on a formula I am not gonna try to calculate for purposes of this argument, but that was one more reason that I objected to the child tax credit, because it was more of a benefit for those with higher incomes than for those of lower incomes who were already paying no taxes (but in my memory both the child tax credit and the EIC used to be limited to TWO children but have now been expanded to THREE, which offends both my sense of fairness and my ZPG sensibilities (Zero Population Growth, with 7 billion people I think the planet is already too damned crowded and rewarding those with 3 children is subsidizing a population increase that the planet does not need))

Keep in mind it is only the accursed child tax credit that I object to, not the Head of Household filing status, nor the per person exemptions, nor the EIC (although I do object to expanding the EIC to covering 3 children instead of just two). At least the EIC is aimed for low income households, whereas the accursed child tax credit provides a tax break for some very high income households.