[HN Gopher] Quebec provides universal childcare for less than $7...
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       Quebec provides universal childcare for less than $7 a day
        
       Author : howard941
       Score  : 30 points
       Date   : 2025-06-24 18:24 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.theguardian.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.theguardian.com)
        
       | xhkkffbf wrote:
       | Certainly that's not the full cost. It just subsidizes it
       | heavily. (Not that it's a bad idea to do so. Just that $7 isn't
       | the real cost.)
        
         | spacechild1 wrote:
         | I think everyone is aware of that.
        
           | rufus_foreman wrote:
           | So you have flagged the inaccurate headline then?
        
         | stevenwoo wrote:
         | The article has sources that claim even with the subsidies it
         | generates profit due to enabling mothers to work (and opening
         | up jobs for single parents) plus higher paying jobs for
         | childcare based on studies done originally in multiple trialed
         | places in the USA that made the same claim - for each dollar
         | put in, the government got back twelve roughly. Simply -a
         | mother that doesn't work doesn't generate income tax and
         | children who grow up in poor environments have bad outcomes
         | that cost the government money. No where does the article claim
         | that the parents shoulder the actual cost.
        
           | bn-l wrote:
           | Do those stats take into account the negative externality of
           | the child being raise for a large portion of its most
           | critical years by a stranger instead of the mother (or
           | father)?
        
             | pedalpete wrote:
             | That sounds like very much a strawman argument.
             | 
             | Parents need to have the income to support the family. They
             | end up putting the child in childcare and taking on extra-
             | work or if they are fortunate to rely on family members to
             | afford childcare.
        
       | Canada wrote:
       | Pierre Fortin, an emeritus economist at Universite de Quebec at
       | Montreal, claims that having the government pay for women to work
       | and then taking some of the money back in taxes makes the system
       | profitable.
       | 
       | That is bullshit.
       | 
       | Quebec can provide all kinds of things with the billions of
       | dollars it takes away from the people of other provinces every
       | year.
        
         | mystified5016 wrote:
         | Taxation as theft is an extremely juvenile and uninformed take.
        
           | syeare wrote:
           | Taxation without representation could not be juvenile
           | thinking, it's a founding concept of my country which seems
           | to be lost today
        
             | guitarbill wrote:
             | > Taxation without representation could not be juvenile
             | thinking, it's a founding concept of my country which seems
             | to be lost today
             | 
             | If by "my country" you mean the US, it's perfectly happy
             | with taxation without representation. Current examples
             | include the District of Columbia, certain situations in
             | U.S. territories, and permanent residents. Past examples
             | e.g. women.
        
           | bn-l wrote:
           | It depends where the gov spends it. And it's more like
           | mugging because theft doesn't necessarily imply there's a gun
           | whereas with taxation there is.
        
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       (page generated 2025-06-24 23:01 UTC)