So the state would cast them into destitution and kill their baby.
Also, imagine a situation where you suffer a misfortune and lose your nest egg. Perhaps an official, relative or adviser steals it from you, they are prosecuted and condemned but have spent the money on drugs - it's gone. Then you suffer another misfortune - you lose your job, or you suffer a non life threatening injury that prevents you from working. Now you are screwed.
This clearly isn't your fault. You saved, you worked, you are a victim. Now you are on the street.
Is this right?
Or 5, or 10, or 20?
And, mind, you may not know the duration going in.
Edit:
Also, the reason you can't afford kids is precisely due to the US having the same mentality as yours. Because you have to worry about healthcare, or college, or not having enough vacations and sick days. Instead of, you know, not worrying about that.
What is that headline that The Onion likes to use? “Nothing we can do about this, says only country in the world where this regularly happens”. Applies to healthcare too.
Everyone else has solved this. Americans don’t want to. That’s an okay and fine choice just don’t pretend it’s unsolvable. I live here in the US with a 6 figure salary and my greatest fear is ever needing a doctor for anything.
Back home it wasn’t even a consideration. Need doctor? Just go without a second thought.
And my income was a fraction of what it is now.
Also, of course medical care for all scales extremely well. You remove financial burden from people. You encourage them to start their own jobs, or switch to different/better jobs. You remove the burden of long untreated diseases. You get a happier more productive population.
That’s a bit of a stretch, especially considering that I have specifically mentioned the fact that a lot of people don’t seem to care about their financial situation when having children. And then apparently it is “humane” to take other peoples resources by force through government to pay for their expenses. Who need these barbaric consensual charities anyway.
Without taxation you would have none of these. You would be a surf or servant, or simply dead. Statistically it would be astonishingly unlikely you would be in the ruling class, and given that you are posting on HN you probably aren't a candidate.
You have standards, I respect that, but your community disagrees with you. Children are our future, they are ours - all of them - and we need to look after them. They should have food, shelter, healthcare and education. We should all give them that. If we do we can look each other in the eye and demand respect, dignity and community. If you are robbed or shamed they you have a right to be offended and outraged.
If we don't then you and I are wolves in the forest, with everyone else.
> Without taxation you would have none of these. You would be a surf or servant, or simply dead.
I do not agree with this premise, especially since you have provided no proof that it is based in reality. If you were to guess, what was the income tax in the US in 1900 and were everyone there a surf [sic], servant or dead?