As child care costs soar, more parents may have to exit the workforce

Re:As child care costs soar, more parents may have to exit t... by robertlagrant on Thursday November 02, 2023 @07:23AM (#38111870)

> And it does. You don’t spend money on childcare and other services and can spend it on something else (assuming you have it).

But you lose, at least in the UK, from tax. If a married couple works, they each get tax allowances; first 10k is tax free, each, and then the next 30k is taxed at 20%, and the rest (up to 100k) is taxed at 40%.

If one person works and the other doesn't, they exist in a world where most couples work and bid up house prices, and they're taxed more for it. It's massively disincentivised to have a parent who raises your own kids and does other community activities (e.g. be on PTAs/school boards), unless you earn so much you can push through it.

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Re:As child care costs soar, more parents may have to exit t... by zzleeper on Thursday November 02, 2023 @07:38AM (#38112018)

Where I live (~DC), daycare costs 2.2k per month. With two kids and a 35% marginal tax rate (including state taxes and Medicaid/etc) you would need to make $81k per year just to break even.

Add up extra food costs (vs cooking at home) and extra cleaning costs ($140 every two weeks so about $4k and the value prop of having one SAH parent doesn't look as bad (which is what several college-educated friends have done, sp the ones with 2+ kids)

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Re:As child care costs soar, more parents may have to exit t... by robertlagrant on Thursday November 02, 2023 @10:04AM (#38113666)

Agreed, and if things are so busy people need to buy in food every night then their kids are probably seeing the worst of them, which to me is the main issue.

I suppose what I meant more would distinguish between valid services that you buy because it makes your life easier, e.g. cleaning help, and government-mandated disincentives to stay at home, e.g. tax brackets.

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