snell@utzoo.UUCP (Richard Snell) (03/14/86)
barb@pyuxa.UUCP (B E Nemeth) writes <1353@pyuxa.UUCP> >I have a question regarding >whether or not I'm eligible to >claim the child care credit. > >Both my husband and I work full time >and pay a sitter weekly for >child care for our 2 1/2 daughter. >She's paid in cash and is not >claiming this as income. In looking >over the 1040A there is no place where >I have to indicate who the sitter is. >Since we agreed from the start that >this was "under the table", I don't >want to get my sitter in a prediciment, >but if we're entitled to some credit, >I'd like to grab it. I have to wonder why a question on a regional technicality (how to fill in a "1040A" form, whatever that is) is appropriate for a computer news network with an international distribution. I would have thought an anonymous phone call to some local office would have answered the question. But then perhaps such an inquiry has been made, with the presumed discovery that if one is engaged in such an "under the table" endeavour (i.e., this sitter is not paying taxes etc., and the employer is a main player in the deception) then legal subsidies are not available. (Let's ignore where the funds for such "subsidies" come from... and whether everyone who pays `above-the-table' or `their taxes' is a stupid sucker...) A question is this: if we do not encourage or accept lying and dishonesty in our children, then most of us (including myself) must alter some of our behaviour or be rather poor `role models.' We like to hire "under the table." We decline invitations using bogus excuses. We tell `white lies.' Our children see us do all these things. How do they know where it starts and ends? They just see what you say, they see what you do, and they add 2+2 in their minds... (I will quickly admit that I am not always successful in avoiding these sorts of hypocrisies.) -- Name: Richard Snell Mail: Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A1 UUCP: {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!snell