Deduction

For Singles, April Really Is the Cruelest Month

John Fox is definitely onto something here. He explores the math and logic behind the tax structure that allows married people with children to make more than $47,000 without paying taxes while taxes on a singleton start at only $9,300. The math makes the unfairness evident; the logic shows that single filers get hit harder because they--we, in my case--don't agitate for better tax treatment as loudly as married, child-rearing folks do.

I'm not arguing that the couple with two kids should be driven into poverty, or even buying generic cereal, by a higher tax rate, though I'm not a big fan of the enormous tax credits we give to people on a per-child basis, for this among other reasons. It just seems that our tax system is, more and more, being weighted against letting people who aren't already at the top make any forward progress. Why am I paying my top tax rate on my measly interest income from a savings account while people with dividends get a massive break on that income? Isn't it more in the interest of a better America that people my age can eventually save enough to buy a first home than it is that people whose income comes from their accumulated wealth can build another one? And isn't it more important to make life livable for those of us who are already here than it is to encourage people to add more children to a planet with an already unbearable population? Throwing a pile of tax credits at a big voting bloc and aiming benefits at big political donors may help win elections, but it's not a good way to create a healthy future for America.