I was once sent a long form Census form. I filled out the applicable portions such as how many people in the home, ages of household members.
I don’t remember all of the questions but there were some regarding whether or not the home had plumbing or electricity, didn’t answer those.
Anything that was not typical to a Census..like ages, names, language spoken in the home, number of residents, whether home was rented or purchased, type of house..the types of things I’ve seen regularly in census reports over the last 150 years was marked with a N/A in each section so that they could see that the answer wasn’t skipped over or forgotten.
Therefore, the form was fully filled out, and sent back. I never heard anything more from it.
I HAVE had census workers come to my door even after filling out and returning the form. They want to do the census again...I always refuse. However, what they WILL do is ask your neighbors and fill out the form anyway. Ok..at least I didn’t have to do it twice.
If according to Roe v Wade you have a RIGHT to privacy, then you have a right to refuse answers to protect your right to privacy. As mentioned...enumeration is all that matters. Nothing more, nothing less.
Finally, I realize that sometimes federal monies are given to a city/county/school district in addition to other services based on the information on the census form, but some states have their own form for that.
Re: Your last sentence:
You are right about a city/County/State getting more money based upon the population.
THAT is EXACTLY why they do NOT want the voters rolls purged when people move or die.