I do not have children, and I never will, yet my property taxes still go toward paying for schools. I’m happy to have my taxes pay for roads, infastructure improvement, fire, police, and all the other municipal services that benefit me as a resident of the county.
The government needs to determine the cost of educating a child from kindergarten to high school, divide this by 18, and apply it as a yearly tax to parents. Children deserve an education, but children also put an additional strain on society. I should not be forced to pay for someone else’s decision to procreate.
All those services exist to benefit the public, and while I don’t directly benefit from some of them, I’m happy to pay for them as a member of society. Everybody needs to pitch in for society to function.
Having children is different. I’m sure every parent has their own reasons for procreation, but it’s their choice to bring a child into the world because they want to. It’s their responsibility to raise the child to adulthood.
Once the child is a functioning member of society and is paying taxes like the rest of us, they have every right to enjoy the same public services that I do. Until then, let the parents pay for their own decisions.
Society as a whole does not agree with this viewpoint. Let’s drive this home.
Take the US: families with children under a certain income (let’s say $75k, I don’t feel like looking up the specifics) effectively pay no federal taxes. All of their tens of thousands of dollars that would go towards the programs discussed all around this thread instead goes back to them.
Seems unfair right? Instead of parents paying their fair share and shouldering the cost of developing little people, they pay nothing!
Turns out that for government to function for the next year, it needs to plan out its budget. That’s somewhat easy.
How about government functioning in 10 years? Requires some more foresight and projection, but can probably be done with reasonable assumptions.
How about government functioning in 50 years? If we do not build in a layer of population growth, then the numbers get ugly real fast. People retire. People die. People unexpectedly die before it’s their time. With no children born to replace people, society crumbles within a generation or two at most. I think every reasonable person would see these projections and agree that if no new people join society, it ceases to exist. Even for the most selfish people, they will have no support at old age.
You may see supporting the costs of educating children as an unfair burden on everybody else. I don’t agree with that idea, but it’s your right to feel that way. Instead, I ask that you open your mind to expanding the bounds on the concept of educating kids to raising a new generation. Kids cost a shit ton more than just school. They also use medical services. They need to eat. They use public transportation. They consume free media. They do many of the things you do, but you are uncomfortable sponsoring them as we do you.
If nothing else, try to see children as the next generation of humanity. We can always make things more difficult on parents, but we as a species will suffer, and in your very lifetime.