One Twitter user laid out exactly how the plan hurts prospective parents
In their ongoing effort to victimize as many groups of people as possible with a tax plan that already benefits the rich and does little for anyone else, the GOP can add another target to their list: parents who adopt.
Brandon Jones, a web developer with Google and an adoptive parent himself, took to Twitter to explain how.
Brandon starts his long but worthwhile thread with a tiny bit of background about why this issue is important to him.
I keep my Twitter posts minimally political, but you'll have to excuse me for a second while I address something near to my heart: Adoption.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
If you don't know, I'm the adoptive father of two beautiful boys and I can honestly say they are the best part of my life.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
As tends to happen with these things, I've also come to know multiple other adoptive families as well.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
He explains, in case you didn’t know, how grueling and costly the adoption process usually is.
We all have different reasons for adopting, but regardless of why we can all agree on one thing: Going through the adoption process SUCKS.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
Totally worth it, considering what waits on the other end, but it is a long, invasive, and (crucially) very expensive process.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
And then he dives into the GOP’s new tax plan, which eliminates existing adoption assistance programs, which, he posits, will definitely prevent people from being able to adopt because it’s too expensive without some help.
And that brings me to the political angle: The GOPs new tax plan eliminates existing adoption assistance programs. pic.twitter.com/rma4j1haC9
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
I can say with absolute confidence that eliminating that credit WILL prevent people from adopting. No question. Because it's EXPENSIVE.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
So for many families that credit is the only hope they have of actually being able to afford having children.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
He knows supporters of the plan will have their straw man arguments for why maybe it’s a good thing for people who can’t afford adoption to not have kids.
Now, you might say: "If they can't afford the adoption then wouldn't they struggle to actually pay for the daily needs of child?"
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
Nope, it's orders of magnitude difference, depending on the exact route you take to do the adoption.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
He breaks it down in terms people can understand, so long as the numbers don’t give them a heart attack.
Most people get funny about giving numbers, but I think it's worth it to drive the point home: Our first son cost us approx. $50,000
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
That's mostly adoption agency and legal fees, but also travel, hotel, medical, and a bunch of smaller misc. stuff.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
And what you have to understand is that almost all of that is paid either at the point you are matched or when the child is placed with you.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
So picture being in the hospital, holding your new baby boy, in a different state, while lawyers are calling saying: "We need $30,000 TODAY"
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
"...Or we can't start the process to let you keep the baby." That sounds malicious, but it's really just legal reality.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
So what do you do, he asks?
And nobody gives out loans on babies. So tell me: If you needed to how would you come up with $50k in a lump sum?
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
You probably don't just have it in the bank. If you're a Silicon Valley engineer like me maybe you have company stock. (Thank goodness!)
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
If you're able to afford a house, maybe you can take out a second mortgage. (This is really common among families that I know.)
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
And if not... well you can ask for donations from friends and family, maybe a few personal IOUs? I really honestly don't know.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
There isn’t much to be done, unfortunately, which is why the assistance programs are so essential.
And for many families the only thing that lets them push through that MASSIVE barrier is the knowledge that they can get that tax credit.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
It's a non-trivial amount that it covers. Depends on situation but it can easily be 10s of thousands that comes back to you.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
Which may let you pay back a decent chunk of that second mortgage, or repay that friend that fronted you several thousand. It matters.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
For many, if not most of us, children create a financial burden. But it’s worth it.
And yes, that all sucks. It's worth it for the families that adopt, to deal with the financial strain to have a family.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
Even for me, a Google Engineer, adopting pretty much drained our financial resources at the time. I can't imagine how most families do it.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
You’d think the supposedly pro-family Republican party would agree. But actions speak louder than words.
So it's infuriating to see the "Pro-life, pro-family" GOP repeatedly make these kind of blatantly anti-family moves.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
Jones knows that this is far from the only issue with the GOP’s tax plan.
(For the record there's a whole pile of bad in that tax plan. I'm just focusing on this one aspect.)
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
But making it harder for people to adopt won’t stop others from putting their kids up for adoption.
So adoption tax credit goes away and families simply can't adopt any more. Period. Do you think people will stop having babies, though?
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
Obviously not, and the tiny child tax credit bump in the plan won't change the reasons most parents place their kids for adoption.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
Which has many long-term ramifications.
So realistically we're just creating more foster kids, which is definitely a bigger drain on govt. resources than the adoption credit.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
And in the meantime good families go without children and kids go without permanent homes. There's zero up side to this.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
The whole thing makes him sick.
And for what? So the wealthy can pass on their fortunes to their kids tax free? It's disgusting.
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
I should really wrap this up now, but please realize that when these senators talk up how they're trying to help "middle class families"...
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
They're really giving the finger to an awful lot of them, through this and other cruel cuts. /fin
— Brandon Jones (@Tojiro) November 3, 2017
It should make you sick too.