Unpopular Opinion

It was a proposal, and a quite modest one if I recall. Also hella satirical in case anyone thought Swift believed that.

Having taxes ensures that all members of society get the same benefit. Lets say for instance that it costs the fire department $5000 to put out a house fire for a low-income family. My income is higher, so I pay more taxes toward the fire department, but they still get the same response to their house fire that I would. That's exactly how it should be.

Now lets say that same low-income family has 8 kids. They don't need to have 8 kids (they don't need to have any), and regardless of whether they're a low-income household or part of the 1%, chances are a good number of those children won't grow up to produce a net gain to the rest of society. The parents both work entry-level jobs, so they're at least productive members of society. The 8 kids are still in school and produce no immediate benefit to society. Why should I be paying for their children when their children produce no benefit to any of the taxpayers; they could have just as easily aborted every pregnancy and not only would they be better able to support themselves, there would be 8 less non-productive individuals for the taxpayers to support. Once those 8 kids start working, then yes, my taxes should go to help support their healthcare, housing, food, etc; they might be the person making my sandwich, or they might be the person doing my brain surgery. The point is that they are contributing what they can.

Anyone who is productive in the world should receive the same social benefits as any other person who is productive in their same societal group. Children are not productive. They have the possibility of being productive, but not until they reach maturity. Until they reach that point, the only people who should be paying for them are the ones who made the poor decision to bring them into the world in the first place.

I don't really have a problem with adults that study until they're 30, as long as they come out of school being an expert in a field that's actually useful to society. A medical student just out of high school who goes into pre-med, medical school, then residency will be close to that age by the time they finish their education. Somebody who hops from major to major and eventually gets a degree in philosophy when they're 30... maybe find something that's actually useful first. If you're working and contributing and decide you want to study art history for your own personal edification, go for it.