Following Hurricane Milton’s catastrophic landfall, Governor Ron DeSantis has requested an Expedited Major Disaster Declaration to support Florida's response and recovery efforts. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), U.S. Representative Vern Buchanan (R-FL), and members...
Following Hurricane Milton’s catastrophic landfall in Florida, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined the U.S. Coast Guard to survey impacted areas across the State. Photos are courtesy of Senator Rubio’s office. Senator Rubio joins the U.S. Coast Guard for a flyover...
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) office will host in-person Mobile Office Hours next week to assist constituents with federal casework issues in their respective local communities. These office hours offer constituents who do not live close to one of Senator Rubio’s...
Major Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall in Florida, bringing with it devastating storm surge, winds, and inland flooding. The Seminole Tribe of Florida should have access to the federal resources required for emergency response and recovery preparations on...
Major Hurricane Milton is forecasted to potentially hinder or obstruct the Port of Tampa Bay, which receives more than 40 percent of Florida’s petroleum products. It’s crucial for the federal government to expedite all requested measures to protect Florida’s economy...
Major Hurricane Milton is forecasted to impact Florida with devastating storm surge, winds, and inland flooding. After just being hit by Hurricane Helene, it’s crucial for the State of Florida to have the support of the federal government. U.S. Senators Marco Rubio...
Rubio: Tax Reform Should Help American Families
By U.S. Senator Marco Rubio
November 6, 2017
NYT | Share on: Twitter / Facebook
Having kids is one of life’s greatest experiences. It’s also expensive. Between school supplies and summer camps, sports and doctor’s visits, raising children increasingly takes more and more money. I should know — my wife, Jeanette, and I have four. We’ve been blessed in recent years, but I know what it’s like to start a family and struggle to make ends meet. My parents were immigrants who came to America with virtually nothing, and after I finished law school, I owed more than $100,000 in student loans.
There’s a reason many people feel it’s harder to afford children now than in previous generations. It’s true. According to federal data adjusted for inflation, from 1960 to 2015 the average annual cost of raising a child in a middle-income family rose by over $11,000. It’s now estimated that middle-class parents will spend more than $230,000 over the course of their son or daughter’s childhood — and that doesn’t even include college tuition.
Ask just about any couple and they’ll tell you this absolutely influences their decisions about when to have children and how many to have. As the economist Lyman Stone has shown, by 2012, the average number of children American women intended to have was 2.37, and the total fertility rate was 1.88 — a gap of about 0.5 children on average. Since the 1960s, there has been a consistent gap between intended and total fertility, even as the number of children American women desire to have and the total birthrate have declined over time.
There are many causes for this gap, but the increasing cost of childbearing clearly has played a role in its development. For example, think of families who delayed having children for a few years until they were more financially stable and may not have been able to have as many as they initially wanted. Or parents who wanted more children, but after their first or second realized they couldn’t afford the combined cost of taking care of the child and reducing their work hours. The German economist Anna Raute has isolated this “opportunity cost” of childbearing as a significant factor in fertility decisions.
Tax reform is a key part of reinvigorating the American dream so that couples have the flexibility to choose how to best start and raise a family. The status quo means the cost of having children makes those choices for them, resulting in smaller families, riskier pregnancies, longer commutes from more affordable exurbs and more missed recitals.