Maybe it was the octuplet mother inciting public backlash, or Nancy Pelosi’s warped thinking that preventing future productive members of society will help us out of our current economic meltdown. Whatever the reason, state leaders have decided that parents should no longer receive tax benefits for growing their families. Included in their budget “deal” is a decrease in the dependent exemption credit. Kevin Dayton over at the Associated Builders and Contractors of California first brought this to my attention in an email. He explained that part of the budget deal was the plan to “raise $1.44 billion by increasing taxes at least $210 per dependent by reducing the dependent exemption credit to equal the personal exemption credit.”
Kevin made a great point about the exemption so I’m just going to quote him directly: “The proposed budget makes it sound so nice – ‘equalizing the credit’ – as if justice was being served. I call it a ‘breeder tax.’ It will disproportionately hit traditional Catholics, evangelistic Christians, and Mormons.” You know if the LA Times is applauding you for cutting the "kiddie credit" something is seriously wrong.
So what does this mean for average families? Well, for every child in your family, you’ll be paying an additional $210 in taxes. Got four kids? You’ll be paying $840 more per year for them. Honestly, I don’t understand why our state government has become so hostile to families and religion. Why are we driving away the productive, law-abiding citizens? If the tax increases don’t force them out of California, the early-release prisoners will scare them out.