My desire to have a family was much stronger than my desire for tax avoidance. Maybe it’s just me, but I kept my head down, lived below my means, and came through ok. If you think ‘every sperm is sacred,’ then the concomitant standard of living doesn’t really matter.
Me too...but it’s the overall effect that counts and decisions like “can we afford another kid” are often made holistically, by factoring in everything, but not necessarily calculating it out.
Of those people, when one considers the thousands of dollars saved in taxes (including getting credits) by having another kid...factor greatly into whether we can achieve, or at least come close to replacement rate.
If we simply tell everyone to suck it up if they want more kids...guess what, less kids.