# Should children count as a tax deduction?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-children-count-as-a-tax-deduction/160430>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 10, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-children-count-as-a-tax-deduction/160430 "2003-03-10T23:16:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-children-count-as-a-tax-deduction/160430/21 "2003-03-11T22:25:35Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by autz \*  
> We don’t generally make people pay fewer taxes just because they have a heavy financial burden. It’s only specific financial burdens. Like those from kids. Why are they a special case?

Purchasing a fancy car is a voluntary decision that has the useful side effect of creating wealth (by increasing demand for the creation of products from raw materials.)

Providing for a child is not voluntary. Society demands that parents are to care for their children, and that people have a fundamental right to procreate.

So, to clarify:

Procreation = fundamental right and heavy financial burden, with little immediate gain for Society.

Fancy car = not a right, but a heavy financial burden, but creates wealth for Society immediately.

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**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-children-count-as-a-tax-deduction/160430/22 "2003-03-11T22:32:33Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RickJay \*  
> \*\*Children are not “burdens” or “exemptions” like losing money in an investment. Children are human beings. They are citizens.
> 
> It is quite appropriate for the government to recognize that a household with four human beings in it is not in the same income position as a household with two human beings in it.\*\*

Of course children are citizens, and human beings - has anyone suggested that they are not? That doesn’t mean that they aren’t also financial burdens - merely that they shouldn’t be viewed SOLELY as financial burdens.

And yes - a household with four people in it (two of whom are incapable of working) is in a different financial situation than a household with two people, both of whom are working, or a household with four people, all of whom are working. Why is the AGE of the two non-working individuals important?

> [@](#):
>
> \*Child tax credits simply recognize that the child’s “income” is derived from the parents’ income, so that the income the parent claims is in fact income split amongst more than one person. \*\*

But why should this be done by means of CHILD tax credits (as opposed to a larger DEPENDENT deduction, which also recognizes the burden ADULT dependents impose on a household)? What makes children “worthier” dependents than (for example) severely mentally handicapped adults? Why don’t the people supporting adult dependents get the same tax breaks? Right now, they don’t - and I for one think that is wrong.

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