Penalizing single parents and caregivers means targeting a population that already struggles to make ends meet, already works long hours and already is stretched too thin. (Photo: Alison Stine for Equal Voice News)
Apr 28, 2017
You're not a single mother. You have a spouse or a partner. You don't have kids, or if you do, you're raising them in a two-parent, two-income household. I'm happy for you -- and a little envious. I don't have that life. I have a 5-year-old I'm raising alone in Appalachia.
The proposed tax plan announced by Donald Trump punishes people like me: single parents living with their children on low- to moderate-incomes. Trump's plan rewards the top 1 percent, but forbids single parents from filing as head of household, a tax status currently open to unmarried parents who pay for more than half of all expenses (rent, bills, food).
We as a nation are only as strong as our weakest members.
Doing away with this status will reduce the amount single parents can deduct and require us to file at a higher tax rate. Under Trump's proposal, 20 percent of all families with children will pay more in taxes, including more than half of the nation's single parent families.
Why should you care? You're fine.
Except you're not. No matter how much you make, how many kids you have, and whether or not you are raising them alone, these changes affect you. We as a nation are only as strong as our weakest members.
Penalizing single parents and caregivers means targeting a population that already struggles to make ends meet, already works long hours and already is stretched too thin. Kicking out a ladder's bottom rungs means those at the top will fall, too.
Your children will be affected because the children of parents who will be hit by this tax plan are more likely to be affected. Those children might go hungry as families are forced to choose between medicine and food.
Hungry children tend to act out because they don't feel well. They also tend to fall asleep in class.
Your child's teacher is going to have to take time out of teaching to deal with the needs of children whose families are struggling.
Hungry adults tend not to do things well either, like drive or work their jobs. Traffic accidents could increase, along with factory mishaps. Look for people snapping at you in line because they're physically struggling, or being clumsy or forgetful while serving you.
You're going to see an influx of sick people. When money is tight, adults skimp on medications. Most of us, when pressed to decide between care for ourselves or for our children will choose our kids. I know I do.
I skip my own expensive allergy meds to buy those for my son, save my asthma inhalers for the absolute worst emergencies and stretch daily contact lenses to use for weeks or more.
Working longer hours to try to make ends meet will mean exhausted people. Exhaustion and stress exacerbate existing medical conditions and contribute to new ones. Pain worsens under stress. Wounds take longer to heal. Colds and other illnesses take longer to recover from.
Many of us may lose our health insurance -- another of Trump's goals is to dismantle the Affordable Care Act -- and as we lose access to primary care doctors, emergency rooms will become more crowded.
There will be more contagious people out in public, unable to afford the most basic care -- or scared to miss a day of work to allow themselves to heal -- so you might get sick more often, too.
I live in a poor place, which has certainly seen its share of tough times. A friend dumpster-dived for food. Another burned cardboard for heat. But along with teaching me about poverty, Appalachia has taught me solidarity and compassion. My town rallied to throw a young expectant mother with multiple illnesses a baby shower; to help buy a van for a man with disabilities; to help unemployed workers after a fire. This is a place where people have the least, yet give the most.
It's easy to give at least a little, and doing so is essential to all of our survival. When one of us struggles, we all struggle. We all deal with trickle-down devastation.
The president's tax plan is going to make the nation weak -- not just for single parents who, frankly, are being punished enough already. It is true that some choose to parent alone, but many of us were denied a choice.
Many single parents are dealing with a broken promise. Many of us come to single parenting through horrible circumstances: death, or abandonment, or trying to escape abuse, or to deal with the pain of infidelity. I wouldn't wish single parenting on anyone. It's exhausting, lonely, and nearly impossible to do absolutely everything a child needs by yourself.
Now, it looks like I'll have to do it on even less. And you -- even you -- will pay the price for that, too.
Join Us: News for people demanding a better world
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Alison Stine
Alison Stine works as a freelance reporter. She is the author of "Road Out of Winter" and lives with her son in the foothills of Appalachia. A recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), she was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. She has written for The Atlantic, The Nation, The Guardian, and many others. She is a contributing editor with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Follow her on Twitter: @AlisonStine
You're not a single mother. You have a spouse or a partner. You don't have kids, or if you do, you're raising them in a two-parent, two-income household. I'm happy for you -- and a little envious. I don't have that life. I have a 5-year-old I'm raising alone in Appalachia.
The proposed tax plan announced by Donald Trump punishes people like me: single parents living with their children on low- to moderate-incomes. Trump's plan rewards the top 1 percent, but forbids single parents from filing as head of household, a tax status currently open to unmarried parents who pay for more than half of all expenses (rent, bills, food).
We as a nation are only as strong as our weakest members.
Doing away with this status will reduce the amount single parents can deduct and require us to file at a higher tax rate. Under Trump's proposal, 20 percent of all families with children will pay more in taxes, including more than half of the nation's single parent families.
Why should you care? You're fine.
Except you're not. No matter how much you make, how many kids you have, and whether or not you are raising them alone, these changes affect you. We as a nation are only as strong as our weakest members.
Penalizing single parents and caregivers means targeting a population that already struggles to make ends meet, already works long hours and already is stretched too thin. Kicking out a ladder's bottom rungs means those at the top will fall, too.
Your children will be affected because the children of parents who will be hit by this tax plan are more likely to be affected. Those children might go hungry as families are forced to choose between medicine and food.
Hungry children tend to act out because they don't feel well. They also tend to fall asleep in class.
Your child's teacher is going to have to take time out of teaching to deal with the needs of children whose families are struggling.
Hungry adults tend not to do things well either, like drive or work their jobs. Traffic accidents could increase, along with factory mishaps. Look for people snapping at you in line because they're physically struggling, or being clumsy or forgetful while serving you.
You're going to see an influx of sick people. When money is tight, adults skimp on medications. Most of us, when pressed to decide between care for ourselves or for our children will choose our kids. I know I do.
I skip my own expensive allergy meds to buy those for my son, save my asthma inhalers for the absolute worst emergencies and stretch daily contact lenses to use for weeks or more.
Working longer hours to try to make ends meet will mean exhausted people. Exhaustion and stress exacerbate existing medical conditions and contribute to new ones. Pain worsens under stress. Wounds take longer to heal. Colds and other illnesses take longer to recover from.
Many of us may lose our health insurance -- another of Trump's goals is to dismantle the Affordable Care Act -- and as we lose access to primary care doctors, emergency rooms will become more crowded.
There will be more contagious people out in public, unable to afford the most basic care -- or scared to miss a day of work to allow themselves to heal -- so you might get sick more often, too.
I live in a poor place, which has certainly seen its share of tough times. A friend dumpster-dived for food. Another burned cardboard for heat. But along with teaching me about poverty, Appalachia has taught me solidarity and compassion. My town rallied to throw a young expectant mother with multiple illnesses a baby shower; to help buy a van for a man with disabilities; to help unemployed workers after a fire. This is a place where people have the least, yet give the most.
It's easy to give at least a little, and doing so is essential to all of our survival. When one of us struggles, we all struggle. We all deal with trickle-down devastation.
The president's tax plan is going to make the nation weak -- not just for single parents who, frankly, are being punished enough already. It is true that some choose to parent alone, but many of us were denied a choice.
Many single parents are dealing with a broken promise. Many of us come to single parenting through horrible circumstances: death, or abandonment, or trying to escape abuse, or to deal with the pain of infidelity. I wouldn't wish single parenting on anyone. It's exhausting, lonely, and nearly impossible to do absolutely everything a child needs by yourself.
Now, it looks like I'll have to do it on even less. And you -- even you -- will pay the price for that, too.
Alison Stine
Alison Stine works as a freelance reporter. She is the author of "Road Out of Winter" and lives with her son in the foothills of Appalachia. A recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), she was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. She has written for The Atlantic, The Nation, The Guardian, and many others. She is a contributing editor with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Follow her on Twitter: @AlisonStine
You're not a single mother. You have a spouse or a partner. You don't have kids, or if you do, you're raising them in a two-parent, two-income household. I'm happy for you -- and a little envious. I don't have that life. I have a 5-year-old I'm raising alone in Appalachia.
The proposed tax plan announced by Donald Trump punishes people like me: single parents living with their children on low- to moderate-incomes. Trump's plan rewards the top 1 percent, but forbids single parents from filing as head of household, a tax status currently open to unmarried parents who pay for more than half of all expenses (rent, bills, food).
We as a nation are only as strong as our weakest members.
Doing away with this status will reduce the amount single parents can deduct and require us to file at a higher tax rate. Under Trump's proposal, 20 percent of all families with children will pay more in taxes, including more than half of the nation's single parent families.
Why should you care? You're fine.
Except you're not. No matter how much you make, how many kids you have, and whether or not you are raising them alone, these changes affect you. We as a nation are only as strong as our weakest members.
Penalizing single parents and caregivers means targeting a population that already struggles to make ends meet, already works long hours and already is stretched too thin. Kicking out a ladder's bottom rungs means those at the top will fall, too.
Your children will be affected because the children of parents who will be hit by this tax plan are more likely to be affected. Those children might go hungry as families are forced to choose between medicine and food.
Hungry children tend to act out because they don't feel well. They also tend to fall asleep in class.
Your child's teacher is going to have to take time out of teaching to deal with the needs of children whose families are struggling.
Hungry adults tend not to do things well either, like drive or work their jobs. Traffic accidents could increase, along with factory mishaps. Look for people snapping at you in line because they're physically struggling, or being clumsy or forgetful while serving you.
You're going to see an influx of sick people. When money is tight, adults skimp on medications. Most of us, when pressed to decide between care for ourselves or for our children will choose our kids. I know I do.
I skip my own expensive allergy meds to buy those for my son, save my asthma inhalers for the absolute worst emergencies and stretch daily contact lenses to use for weeks or more.
Working longer hours to try to make ends meet will mean exhausted people. Exhaustion and stress exacerbate existing medical conditions and contribute to new ones. Pain worsens under stress. Wounds take longer to heal. Colds and other illnesses take longer to recover from.
Many of us may lose our health insurance -- another of Trump's goals is to dismantle the Affordable Care Act -- and as we lose access to primary care doctors, emergency rooms will become more crowded.
There will be more contagious people out in public, unable to afford the most basic care -- or scared to miss a day of work to allow themselves to heal -- so you might get sick more often, too.
I live in a poor place, which has certainly seen its share of tough times. A friend dumpster-dived for food. Another burned cardboard for heat. But along with teaching me about poverty, Appalachia has taught me solidarity and compassion. My town rallied to throw a young expectant mother with multiple illnesses a baby shower; to help buy a van for a man with disabilities; to help unemployed workers after a fire. This is a place where people have the least, yet give the most.
It's easy to give at least a little, and doing so is essential to all of our survival. When one of us struggles, we all struggle. We all deal with trickle-down devastation.
The president's tax plan is going to make the nation weak -- not just for single parents who, frankly, are being punished enough already. It is true that some choose to parent alone, but many of us were denied a choice.
Many single parents are dealing with a broken promise. Many of us come to single parenting through horrible circumstances: death, or abandonment, or trying to escape abuse, or to deal with the pain of infidelity. I wouldn't wish single parenting on anyone. It's exhausting, lonely, and nearly impossible to do absolutely everything a child needs by yourself.
Now, it looks like I'll have to do it on even less. And you -- even you -- will pay the price for that, too.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.