Why Two Parents Are The Ultimate Privilege

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The amount of people choosing to not get married because they'll lose the earned income tax credit is a nonissue, I promise. This type of person doesn't think about stuff like that.

You are absolutely wrong. I work at a place where there are a lot of women with only a high school degree. Yeah, they actually do think about finances a lot because they are barely making ends meet. Several of them cohabitate because being head of household for tax reasons is far better than married with two children. They get better health insurance through medicaid than our work, their kids get subsidized child care and summer camps, etc.

A few years ago I helped someone at my job apply for medicaid when they were pregnant because they wanted help understanding if it was better to use the awful health insurance work has or use medicaid. After work I showed her the pros and cons in regards to head of household vs married for taxes and for health insurance and for assistance. I have two cousins who are social workers who explained it all to me. Since then others have come to me and asked the same type of questions and I will help them apply using a laptop I bring in from home. Instead most of them use their smartphones. I print out charts so they can use to their advantage the last paycheck or their W-2 for benefits. Or say this month don't pick up any overtime and apply next month because you are $100 over the limit for something like free lunch.

There are certain communities that are really good at knowing the system and legally getting the maximum benefits. I don't want to name them but for the most part they are not black or latino.

We're not talking about qualifying for medicaid or other services, we're talking specifically about the earned income tax credit. How many people with only a high school degree know that the EITC is and base their life choices around it?

I have known multiple low-income people that we serve at our church who list extra kids for EITC (fraud), so yes, people know about the free cash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why should be incentivize marriage, OP?

Dp. Heard a really good interview with her on npr. Basically she argues we throw tons of money at school and welfare programs for struggling kids and get very poor outcomes for that money (especially for boys.). If we instead invested in getting and keeping parents married we’d be making a much better investment.

The trick is how do you do that? And her answer seems to be we need to ensure good paying blue collar jobs for men. Otherwise women cant/won’t marry them when they get pregnant.

This is like suggesting we undo global capitalism and labor offshoring. Seems a bit wishful and kind of retrogressive, unless you are talking protectionist measures that will drive up costs.

How does she suggest we do the "ensuring" of those jobs?

Right? This would require some serious economic policy changes that I don't think rich Republicans would be fans of. Discouraging offshoring? Focusing on high blue collar salaries, which has historically happened due to union advocacy? I'm super pro-labor so im not saying the latter is a bad idea, but it doesn't sound on brand for her.

This is literally what Trump was/is supporting and one reason why the suits in DC hate him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wake me when Bari Weiss says anything interesting.

Time to wake up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The amount of people choosing to not get married because they'll lose the earned income tax credit is a nonissue, I promise. This type of person doesn't think about stuff like that.

You are absolutely wrong. I work at a place where there are a lot of women with only a high school degree. Yeah, they actually do think about finances a lot because they are barely making ends meet. Several of them cohabitate because being head of household for tax reasons is far better than married with two children. They get better health insurance through medicaid than our work, their kids get subsidized child care and summer camps, etc.

A few years ago I helped someone at my job apply for medicaid when they were pregnant because they wanted help understanding if it was better to use the awful health insurance work has or use medicaid. After work I showed her the pros and cons in regards to head of household vs married for taxes and for health insurance and for assistance. I have two cousins who are social workers who explained it all to me. Since then others have come to me and asked the same type of questions and I will help them apply using a laptop I bring in from home. Instead most of them use their smartphones. I print out charts so they can use to their advantage the last paycheck or their W-2 for benefits. Or say this month don't pick up any overtime and apply next month because you are $100 over the limit for something like free lunch.

There are certain communities that are really good at knowing the system and legally getting the maximum benefits. I don't want to name them but for the most part they are not black or latino.

We're not talking about qualifying for medicaid or other services, we're talking specifically about the earned income tax credit. How many people with only a high school degree know that the EITC is and base their life choices around it?

I have known multiple low-income people that we serve at our church who list extra kids for EITC (fraud), so yes, people know about the free cash.

My mom was a postal carrier for decades. Now the checks are probably deposited electronically but they used to be delivered in paper form. The amount of fraud that goes on for benefits is mind blowing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An interesting interview from Bari Weiss with a UMD Economist, Melissa Kearney, grappling with shifting economic landscapes, optimal family formation and the impact on the development of children. It's interesting that she seems to have gotten so much pushback from colleagues within academia and even editors and the University of Chicago Press regarding the topic and that such a topic, which should be thoroughly researched and discussed, has people walking on eggshells.

https://www.thefp.com/p/why-two-parents-are-the-ultimate-privilege

One summary quote:

Even though we don’t explicitly disincentivize marriage now, our tax and transfer system does implicitly disincentivize marriage. For example, if you’re married and you’re both working, you’re much less likely to qualify for the earned income tax credit because our tax code works where you pool the income across two people. So a woman who might be on the margin of making $30,000 gets the earned income tax credit. If she marries that guy making $50,000, her and her child lose the earned income tax credit and lose Medicaid. This gives her the incentive to cohabit instead of getting married. And so our tax and transfer system unintentionally does discourage marriage—at least between two people who work. We should be getting rid of all of those legacy effects

Am I the only one who can’t get past how badly this is written? “Our tax code works where?” “Her and her child?” “Cohabit?” Who writes this trash?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The amount of people choosing to not get married because they'll lose the earned income tax credit is a nonissue, I promise. This type of person doesn't think about stuff like that.

You are absolutely wrong. I work at a place where there are a lot of women with only a high school degree. Yeah, they actually do think about finances a lot because they are barely making ends meet. Several of them cohabitate because being head of household for tax reasons is far better than married with two children. They get better health insurance through medicaid than our work, their kids get subsidized child care and summer camps, etc.

A few years ago I helped someone at my job apply for medicaid when they were pregnant because they wanted help understanding if it was better to use the awful health insurance work has or use medicaid. After work I showed her the pros and cons in regards to head of household vs married for taxes and for health insurance and for assistance. I have two cousins who are social workers who explained it all to me. Since then others have come to me and asked the same type of questions and I will help them apply using a laptop I bring in from home. Instead most of them use their smartphones. I print out charts so they can use to their advantage the last paycheck or their W-2 for benefits. Or say this month don't pick up any overtime and apply next month because you are $100 over the limit for something like free lunch.

There are certain communities that are really good at knowing the system and legally getting the maximum benefits. I don't want to name them but for the most part they are not black or latino.

We're not talking about qualifying for medicaid or other services, we're talking specifically about the earned income tax credit. How many people with only a high school degree know that the EITC is and base their life choices around it?

I have known multiple low-income people that we serve at our church who list extra kids for EITC (fraud), so yes, people know about the free cash.

My mom was a postal carrier for decades. Now the checks are probably deposited electronically but they used to be delivered in paper form. The amount of fraud that goes on for benefits is mind blowing.

Older brother is low-income (no income) and lives in Baltimore city. Yes, the benefits fraud is staggering and no one is doing anything about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The amount of people choosing to not get married because they'll lose the earned income tax credit is a nonissue, I promise. This type of person doesn't think about stuff like that.

You are absolutely wrong. I work at a place where there are a lot of women with only a high school degree. Yeah, they actually do think about finances a lot because they are barely making ends meet. Several of them cohabitate because being head of household for tax reasons is far better than married with two children. They get better health insurance through medicaid than our work, their kids get subsidized child care and summer camps, etc.

A few years ago I helped someone at my job apply for medicaid when they were pregnant because they wanted help understanding if it was better to use the awful health insurance work has or use medicaid. After work I showed her the pros and cons in regards to head of household vs married for taxes and for health insurance and for assistance. I have two cousins who are social workers who explained it all to me. Since then others have come to me and asked the same type of questions and I will help them apply using a laptop I bring in from home. Instead most of them use their smartphones. I print out charts so they can use to their advantage the last paycheck or their W-2 for benefits. Or say this month don't pick up any overtime and apply next month because you are $100 over the limit for something like free lunch.

There are certain communities that are really good at knowing the system and legally getting the maximum benefits. I don't want to name them but for the most part they are not black or latino.

We're not talking about qualifying for medicaid or other services, we're talking specifically about the earned income tax credit. How many people with only a high school degree know that the EITC is and base their life choices around it?

I have known multiple low-income people that we serve at our church who list extra kids for EITC (fraud), so yes, people know about the free cash.

My mom was a postal carrier for decades. Now the checks are probably deposited electronically but they used to be delivered in paper form. The amount of fraud that goes on for benefits is mind blowing.

Older brother is low-income (no income) and lives in Baltimore city. Yes, the benefits fraud is staggering and no one is doing anything about it.

+1

Dp here. Some people would rather spend their energy working the systems (plural), than earning more money from a job. Heck, I have seen people who can afford cars go into stores and steal - when I had no job and no place to live, I wasn't stealing, I was looking for a job. Any job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The amount of people choosing to not get married because they'll lose the earned income tax credit is a nonissue, I promise. This type of person doesn't think about stuff like that.

You are absolutely wrong. I work at a place where there are a lot of women with only a high school degree. Yeah, they actually do think about finances a lot because they are barely making ends meet. Several of them cohabitate because being head of household for tax reasons is far better than married with two children. They get better health insurance through medicaid than our work, their kids get subsidized child care and summer camps, etc.

A few years ago I helped someone at my job apply for medicaid when they were pregnant because they wanted help understanding if it was better to use the awful health insurance work has or use medicaid. After work I showed her the pros and cons in regards to head of household vs married for taxes and for health insurance and for assistance. I have two cousins who are social workers who explained it all to me. Since then others have come to me and asked the same type of questions and I will help them apply using a laptop I bring in from home. Instead most of them use their smartphones. I print out charts so they can use to their advantage the last paycheck or their W-2 for benefits. Or say this month don't pick up any overtime and apply next month because you are $100 over the limit for something like free lunch.

There are certain communities that are really good at knowing the system and legally getting the maximum benefits. I don't want to name them but for the most part they are not black or latino.

We're not talking about qualifying for medicaid or other services, we're talking specifically about the earned income tax credit. How many people with only a high school degree know that the EITC is and base their life choices around it?

I have known multiple low-income people that we serve at our church who list extra kids for EITC (fraud), so yes, people know about the free cash.

I work with the Central American immigrant community in the DMV.

The vast majority of them commit EITC fraud every year by claiming extra kids on their tax finings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The amount of people choosing to not get married because they'll lose the earned income tax credit is a nonissue, I promise. This type of person doesn't think about stuff like that.

You are absolutely wrong. I work at a place where there are a lot of women with only a high school degree. Yeah, they actually do think about finances a lot because they are barely making ends meet. Several of them cohabitate because being head of household for tax reasons is far better than married with two children. They get better health insurance through medicaid than our work, their kids get subsidized child care and summer camps, etc.

A few years ago I helped someone at my job apply for medicaid when they were pregnant because they wanted help understanding if it was better to use the awful health insurance work has or use medicaid. After work I showed her the pros and cons in regards to head of household vs married for taxes and for health insurance and for assistance. I have two cousins who are social workers who explained it all to me. Since then others have come to me and asked the same type of questions and I will help them apply using a laptop I bring in from home. Instead most of them use their smartphones. I print out charts so they can use to their advantage the last paycheck or their W-2 for benefits. Or say this month don't pick up any overtime and apply next month because you are $100 over the limit for something like free lunch.

There are certain communities that are really good at knowing the system and legally getting the maximum benefits. I don't want to name them but for the most part they are not black or latino.

We're not talking about qualifying for medicaid or other services, we're talking specifically about the earned income tax credit. How many people with only a high school degree know that the EITC is and base their life choices around it?

I have known multiple low-income people that we serve at our church who list extra kids for EITC (fraud), so yes, people know about the free cash.

I work with the Central American immigrant community in the DMV.

The vast majority of them commit EITC fraud every year by claiming extra kids on their tax finings.

Do you report them for fraud?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The amount of people choosing to not get married because they'll lose the earned income tax credit is a nonissue, I promise. This type of person doesn't think about stuff like that.

You are absolutely wrong. I work at a place where there are a lot of women with only a high school degree. Yeah, they actually do think about finances a lot because they are barely making ends meet. Several of them cohabitate because being head of household for tax reasons is far better than married with two children. They get better health insurance through medicaid than our work, their kids get subsidized child care and summer camps, etc.

A few years ago I helped someone at my job apply for medicaid when they were pregnant because they wanted help understanding if it was better to use the awful health insurance work has or use medicaid. After work I showed her the pros and cons in regards to head of household vs married for taxes and for health insurance and for assistance. I have two cousins who are social workers who explained it all to me. Since then others have come to me and asked the same type of questions and I will help them apply using a laptop I bring in from home. Instead most of them use their smartphones. I print out charts so they can use to their advantage the last paycheck or their W-2 for benefits. Or say this month don't pick up any overtime and apply next month because you are $100 over the limit for something like free lunch.

There are certain communities that are really good at knowing the system and legally getting the maximum benefits. I don't want to name them but for the most part they are not black or latino.

We're not talking about qualifying for medicaid or other services, we're talking specifically about the earned income tax credit. How many people with only a high school degree know that the EITC is and base their life choices around it?

I have known multiple low-income people that we serve at our church who list extra kids for EITC (fraud), so yes, people know about the free cash.

I work with the Central American immigrant community in the DMV.

The vast majority of them commit EITC fraud every year by claiming extra kids on their tax finings.

Do you report them for fraud?

I would lose my job if I did.

[Anonymous]

Been married to the same man for going on 30 years, we have raised a family. I cannot imagine parenting alone as a single mom. There were times that Dad was needed to handle a situation with advice, and other times I was needed instead. It's back and forth, you need both. We have daughters, and they got to have a dad who encouraged them, and has been their rock. They aren't out there looking for a father figure. They have a father at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The amount of people choosing to not get married because they'll lose the earned income tax credit is a nonissue, I promise. This type of person doesn't think about stuff like that.

You are absolutely wrong. I work at a place where there are a lot of women with only a high school degree. Yeah, they actually do think about finances a lot because they are barely making ends meet. Several of them cohabitate because being head of household for tax reasons is far better than married with two children. They get better health insurance through medicaid than our work, their kids get subsidized child care and summer camps, etc.

A few years ago I helped someone at my job apply for medicaid when they were pregnant because they wanted help understanding if it was better to use the awful health insurance work has or use medicaid. After work I showed her the pros and cons in regards to head of household vs married for taxes and for health insurance and for assistance. I have two cousins who are social workers who explained it all to me. Since then others have come to me and asked the same type of questions and I will help them apply using a laptop I bring in from home. Instead most of them use their smartphones. I print out charts so they can use to their advantage the last paycheck or their W-2 for benefits. Or say this month don't pick up any overtime and apply next month because you are $100 over the limit for something like free lunch.

There are certain communities that are really good at knowing the system and legally getting the maximum benefits. I don't want to name them but for the most part they are not black or latino.

We're not talking about qualifying for medicaid or other services, we're talking specifically about the earned income tax credit. How many people with only a high school degree know that the EITC is and base their life choices around it?

I have known multiple low-income people that we serve at our church who list extra kids for EITC (fraud), so yes, people know about the free cash.

I work with the Central American immigrant community in the DMV.

The vast majority of them commit EITC fraud every year by claiming extra kids on their tax finings.

How do they claim extra kids without SSNs? Serious question bc I don’t know. Years ago I read in Freakanomics (I think?) that the number of kids claimed on federal taxes fell dramatically the year the gov added kids’ SSNs to tax forms and I’m pretty sure we have to list our kids’ SSNs to our tax forms to claim them.