Reply #125: Some of the costs I listed are voluntary? Which ones?

[Pithlet]

Are you suggesting people should have kids, but never buy them anything other than the very basic necessities like food and clothing? Because, really, I'd say that's not a very good parenting decision. They actually need toys for development, especially when they're very young. It could actually be very bad for them otherwise. I guess, strictly speaking, it's voluntary as to exactly what and how much. But as an expense, you can't eliminate it entirely. So, you have to include it if you're going to lay out exactly how much it costs to raise a child, if you're going to give an accurate picture, and not try to make it sound like it's a cake walk financially.

So, you're not arguing to remove tax credits for families entirely then? I don't know what you're arguing. You've lost me. If there's some flaw where families under 30,000 weren't getting as much benefit from it it, I was unaware of it. Obviously, that has to get fixed. Note, I'm not talking about any specific taxes, here. Some people in this thread were arguing to eliminate all income tax breaks for parents, because it's unfair to childfree people. I'm arguing how ridiculous that is. If you aren't arguing for that, then you and I aren't at cross purposes. If there are flaws in current tax laws that leave people out, I'm open to change them, of course.