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Is it possible to distinguish between society penalizing being single and society incentivizing having children? Since society's existence requires that people

Is it possible to distinguish between society penalizing being single and society incentivizing having children? Since society's existence requires that people have children (even in the fairly short term, someone younger has to be around to take care of the older folks) it seems reasonable to incentivize it. I guess it's all relative, lower taxes for A compared to B looks like higher taxes for B compared to A, but I suspect most of this comes from a) incentivizing people to form as many families w/ children as possible and then b) since there are so many families w/ children, people build businesses that assume most people will be in families.

tshaddox 1y ago
I think even calling it "society incentivizing people to have children" is a bit of a stretch, since in most cases the tax advantages are unlikely to result in a net financial advantage given the financial costs of raising children. In most cases the thought isn't "I'm ambivalent about having children but I will do it for the financial benefits" and rather "I'd like to have children, but it's very expensive, and the tax advantages slightly lessen the expensive."
- tuckerman 1y ago
  This has been my experience as well, childcare alone is a pretty big part of my budget. I am definitely not better off financially by having a toddler :D I still think of it as incentivizing in the same way the EV rebate helped encourage me to buy my first EV, even if the cost of the car still was more than I would have been willing to pay for an ICE car. It made a difficult thing (slightly) less difficult.
- account42 1y ago
  Incentivizing doesn't have to mean that the incentive alone makes it worth to have children. It just means that it makes it a better deal than it would have been without the incentives.
authorfly 1y ago
Single also differs from being in a childless couple e.g. in your early 20s. To get on the ladder today, 5 years sharing rent is priceless. Then once you do, you get child benefits. Many people are single late in life too. So I don't think it's something you can equate.

tshaddox 1y ago

I think even calling it "society incentivizing people to have children" is a bit of a stretch, since in most cases the tax advantages are unlikely to result in a net financial advantage given the financial costs of raising children. In most cases the thought isn't "I'm ambivalent about having children but I will do it for the financial benefits" and rather "I'd like to have children, but it's very expensive, and the tax advantages slightly lessen the expensive."

tuckerman 1y ago
This has been my experience as well, childcare alone is a pretty big part of my budget. I am definitely not better off financially by having a toddler :D I still think of it as incentivizing in the same way the EV rebate helped encourage me to buy my first EV, even if the cost of the car still was more than I would have been willing to pay for an ICE car. It made a difficult thing (slightly) less difficult.
account42 1y ago
Incentivizing doesn't have to mean that the incentive alone makes it worth to have children. It just means that it makes it a better deal than it would have been without the incentives.

authorfly 1y ago

Single also differs from being in a childless couple e.g. in your early 20s. To get on the ladder today, 5 years sharing rent is priceless. Then once you do, you get child benefits. Many people are single late in life too. So I don't think it's something you can equate.