Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
I saw this image in my Facebook feed earlier today.
The image had been "shared" by a friend, who I am sure thought that the message of the image was ironic and hilarious. I'm sure that he thought that this was a statement that would count as a win, or a "run" or at minimum a "called strike," in a conversation about the sanctity of life. I'm sure this individual thought, "take that Rethuglican! How are you going to get out of this one."
Well, quite simply by saying "sure." If you are willing to agree that life begins at conception, I'm willing to add an additional 9 months to the child tax credit. Heck, my wife and I would have benefited from such a provision.
Now, that doesn't speak to the justness or desirability of having a child tax credit in the first place. That's an economic discussion for another time and place about using the tax code as a rent seeker's paradise.
No, this is just about whether if there is a child tax credit, and life begins at conception, whether it should apply from that moment.
Sure. If it takes a slight deduction in your tax burden to get you to recognize the sanctity of life, I'm all for it. The implication that adding 9 months of eligibility to an existing tax credit would alter mine is more that slightly offensive.
It seems to me that ads like this one, and the "anti" Romney ad by the Obama Truth team, further illuminate how poorly the left understand the beliefs of conservatives.
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Comments:
Aug '10
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
I bet you dollars to doughnuts, if a Republican in Congress tabled a bill to extend the Child Tax Credit to the unborn, the pro-choice lobby would oppose it with all their might, in the same way they oppose laws that make the killing of an unborn child a separate crime from the killing of the mother.
Aug '10
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
Furthermore, the whole point of the Child Tax Credit is to help pay for the costs of raising a child, right? Well, those costs don't begin at birth. There are pre-natal costs, so why not a pre-natal tax credit?
Dec '10
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
Except that the purpose of the credit is to help with the expenses of taking care of a child. Those expenses in an unborn child tend to be of the medical sort, and that is taken care of elsewhere.
Aug '10
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
What about the cost of buying maternity clothes, buying parenting books, taking parenting classes, child-proofing your home, renovating the nursery, trading your Porsche in for a minivan, etc, etc, and stocking up on supplies like diapers and baby clothes in anticipation of the birth?
Parents don't wait until the baby is born to start spending money on that stuff.
Edited on April 11, 2012 at 10:53pmDec '11
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
Great Idea!
Apr '11
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
Agreed. This pithy rejoinder can only be conceived by those in the Liberal Bubble. Strangely, they seem more and more eager to demonstrate their complete lack of understanding of the conservative mind. So the best answer is to call their bluff.
"Well, hey. I like lower taxes, and I believe life begins at conception. Okay! You got a deal!"
Apr '11
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
Bring this tax credit on, even if it's refundable. If our lives matter, those of the unborn do as well.
Mar '11
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
I'm good...lets go for it.
And there are those who say that liberals never have good ideas. Even a blind pig finds an acorn now and then.
Aug '10
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
Percival, It's only high noon for a blind pig once a day. whoever concocted this poster was exceptionally blessed in being both stupid and wrong.But then I thought Occupy was a bad idea for a presidential campaign.
Apr '12
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
The author of the picture must've had SOME interaction with Republicans, to understand there's an objection to giving people money for having kids... not sure how it gets worse by extending it to the full life of the kid, though, unless they've been around a lot of wrong sort of libertarians?
Nov '11
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
If life begins at conception, then we should change the law to reflect that.
Go for it.
And at some point we should have the discussion about tax credits for children. (Mark me down as against. I have no interest in subsidizing other people's baby making. But that's a different thread.)
Feb '11
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
The laughing, delighted young women, thrilled at the sack of cash in the picture, are pretty funny. Forget cash for clunkers! Cash for kiddos!
If there is to be a child tax credit, giving it to parents of unborn children works for me.
May '10
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
Here you go, Nathaniel!
Jan '11
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
NO!
They'll get pregnant, get the money ... then abort the baby. If being pregnant makes money, but bearing the child doesn't, then we're setting up a disaster.
I agree with the principle, but this has disaster written all over it. If the mother believes her baby deserves the full protection of the law, then we'd have nothing to worry about. But for those who don't believe it in the first place, then subsidizing pregnancy gives an incentive for them to have an abortion ... which is what we're trying to avoid. And yes, there are plenty of women who think that it's just a blob of tissue, and would have no hesitation in aborting the baby.
Apr '11
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
I think you're on to something there.
Essentially what seems to be said here is, "You're morally against abortion and morally against subsidies. Haha! We caught you! Decide!" There seems to be no consideration that we would be able to work out of a moral dilemma, in this case stating that preserving the life of the unborn outweighs standing firm against subsidies.
But working through moral dilemmas is another topic altogether.
Dec '11
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
C. U. Douglas
I think you're on to something there.
Essentially what seems to be said here is, "You're morally against abortion and morally against subsidies. Haha! We caught you! Decide!" There seems to be no consideration that we would be able to work out of a moral dilemma, in this case stating that preserving the life of the unborn outweighs standing firm against subsidies.
But working through moral dilemmas is another topic altogether. · 1 minute ago
but we like taxing people less a lot. This is made entirely of win.
Edited on April 12, 2012 at 2:10amMay '10
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
It's not a check, it's a credit. You don't get the credit 'til the baby has a name and a Social Security number.
Jan '12
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
I completely agree. Even if this was facetious, it would do us well to have a discussion on this.
On a similar note, those of us who pay out of pocket for insurance and baby care (as well as pre-natal), my husband and I could've desperately used that credit, even as conservatives with two full time jobs. For having a (gratefully happy for) healthy baby boy last year, without Medicare or good insurance? $11,000 total (doctor, pediatrician, hospital stay, visits, monthly payments). Thanks to Turbo Tax, this number was what we calculated - still paying it off. So yeah, bring on the Tax Credit!
Feb '11
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
EJHill
It's not a check, it's a credit. You don't get the credit 'til the baby has a name and a Social Security number. · 13 minutes ago
We have a "birth grant" here in Israel. At least we did, last I knew.
Dec '11
Re: Conception, Life, Tax Credits, and Confused Liberals
EJHill
It's not a check, it's a credit. You don't get the credit 'til the baby has a name and a Social Security number. · 1 minute ago
You are assuming that the child is conceived and born (and gets a SSN) within the same tax year to receive a prenatal tax credit. And if you have your children late in the year, you get a full year's credit, so for children born in the last 3 months or so of the year, we already have the prenatal credit in place.
Otherwise KC is right, they might not get cash, but they will earn the credit and receive the additional refund.