Author Topic: Am I insane?  (Read 6434 times)

KStache

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 4
Am I insane?
« on: November 20, 2014, 10:23:59 PM »
This news is highly specific for Canadian residents in Quebec but the basic premise is that the highly subsidized daycare rate of 7$ per day is being abolished for a sliding scale based on income (seen here at the end of the link http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-to-introduce-sliding-scale-for-daycare-fees-in-2015-1.2111034

I seem to be the only one among my friends not freaking out about this (I am the only one who has a kid by the way) since I thought that the previous rate was highly unrealistic even though I was enjoying profiting from it. I keep hearing that "kids are no longer in my plans" or that 75K NET pay is NOTHING, while I just said it was not a big deal and we will just adjust our budgets to reflect the new reality.

I even said that most people elsewhere would kill to have this new system but to no avail. Apparently paying 20$ per day for daycare if you even use it is too much to fit in your budget if you are earning a net pay of 150K per year...



dividendman

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
Re: Am I insane?
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2014, 10:56:53 PM »
No.

mveill1

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 86
  • Location: United Kingdom
Re: Am I insane?
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2014, 02:38:26 AM »
I no longer live in Quebec but like to keep in touch with news from home! Isn't the concern that this could be a "slippery slope", where user fees for more and more government-subsidised services will eventually vary with income levels - whereas the income tax system is already very progressive?

I agree it's not a reason not to have kids, but at the same time I have sympathy with the view that you don't HAVE to accept every increase in taxes or fees that is thrown at you just because you can cut your spending somewhere else.

That said, you are most definitely NOT insane!

socaso

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 698
Re: Am I insane?
« Reply #3 on: November 24, 2014, 08:57:04 AM »
I might be indignant, too if this was the only system I'd ever known but from a US perspective this seems fair. When I went looking for daycare I found that either your income is very low and you qualify for assistance or you are over the mark and get nothing. A sliding scale sounds great to me! Based on the information in your article I would pay more than $7 but less than $20 and if $20 a day is so much cheaper than what I currently pay. I did the math, I'm around $37 per day here in California.

Bob W

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2942
  • Age: 65
  • Location: Missouri
  • Live on minimum wage, earn on maximum
Re: Am I insane?
« Reply #4 on: November 24, 2014, 09:23:23 AM »
Unsubsidized in my smallish town here in Missouri runs $20.  We only make 80 but I think this is incredibly cheap.    Your friends need a mustache growing session.   Now in the bigger city of Springfield down the road, wages aren't much higher and daycare seems to be in the $150 per week range.  It is a struggle even for 2 income families earning 50K per year.  For poor folks in Missouri there is a state subsidy program that I am not that familiar with,  but I think 80% of the kids at our daycare use it.

No you're not insane and you have the correct response.  Postponing kids is probably a good thing for your friends anyhow as they don't seem to have their shit together. 

GuitarStv

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 23129
  • Age: 42
  • Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Re: Am I insane?
« Reply #5 on: November 24, 2014, 10:07:37 AM »
Unsubsidized daycare in Toronto runs about 80-95$ a day for a kid under 18 months old in a properly registered daycare.  20$ a day sounds pretty good from over here.

Guses

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 915
Re: Am I insane?
« Reply #6 on: November 24, 2014, 12:10:38 PM »
As another poster pointed out, the problem with the sliding scale is that you are adding a layer of progressiveness on top of an already very progressive tax system.

Either you are progressive on the tax side or you are progressive on the service side. Doing it on both sides is double dipping (IMO).

A couple earning 150,000$ gross (75K$ each) would have paid 42,702$ in taxes already. Then they would have to pay 3 times as much as Joe Mooch over there to send their kids to daycare simply because they make more money?

They should have increased the base cost for everyone instead. AND LINKED IT TO INFLATION.

All this is moot since you are very unlikely to get subsidized daycare places anyway. Daycare from a non subsidized place is more in the 40-65$ range. 

Guses

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 915
Re: Am I insane?
« Reply #7 on: November 24, 2014, 12:15:54 PM »
Snip


Looks like I was misinformed. It appears to be based on net and not gross and WILL be linked to inflation.

I haven't addressed this in my initial reply, but anybody considering not having kids for this reason only probably should not have considered them in the first place.


strider3700

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 516
  • Location: northern BC
Re: Am I insane?
« Reply #8 on: November 24, 2014, 12:32:53 PM »
I know people that pay just shy of 2k/month per child for daycare.     We'd have killed for daycare like Quebec has.   

TrMama

  • Guest
Re: Am I insane?
« Reply #9 on: November 24, 2014, 04:09:36 PM »
No, you are being perfectly reasonable. Just like I wasn't insane when I didn't understand why the university students were so upset about their tuition being raised. You know, the tuition that costs them a fraction of what it costs students outside The Motherland.

We lived in Quebec for a couple years (with kids) and I wouldn't send my kids to any of the $7/day places because my brain just couldn't how they could provide quality care for such a low rate. I also witnessed some extraordinarily negligent care from some of those daycares.

Back in BC, I was thrilled to pay $30-35/day since it meant there were enough daycares around that I could move my kids if I became unhappy with their care. The daycares were well aware this and therefore always treated us well.

I loved living in Quebec, but the $7/day daycare system leaves a lot to be desired.

mveill1

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 86
  • Location: United Kingdom
Re: Am I insane?
« Reply #10 on: February 16, 2015, 04:45:36 AM »


We lived in Quebec for a couple years (with kids) and I wouldn't send my kids to any of the $7/day places because my brain just couldn't how they could provide quality care for such a low rate. I also witnessed some extraordinarily negligent care from some of those daycares.


The rate is closer to $80, the government puts up the $73 difference. $7 a day is more expensive than private because of regulations, unionisation, etc.

zephyr911

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3619
  • Age: 45
  • Location: Northern Alabama
  • I'm just happy to be here. \m/ ^_^ \m/
    • Pinhook Development LLC
Re: Am I insane?
« Reply #11 on: February 16, 2015, 06:31:41 AM »
I keep hearing that "kids are no longer in my plans"
Then it's a good thing! If paying slightly more of the actual cost of child-rearing is enough to dissuade them, they were poor candidates for parenthood in the first place. <3 +1
Quote
I even said that most people elsewhere would kill to have this new system but to no avail. Apparently paying 20$ per day for daycare if you even use it is too much to fit in your budget if you are earning a net pay of 150K per year...
Oh, call the fuckin' wambulance to bring them a hanky. lol