Should the reduction for the family with an income of $100,000 be the same, or should they be given more of a reduction because of their bigger income? Here, most people would say no.
I had trouble following the whole child tax penalty/reduction example, and was going to request that Kaj_Sotala simplify or clarify the whole example (and fix that sentence in particular).
There are a lot of numbers, and they aren’t given in a way that makes the important ones prominent and the parallelism between the two framings transparent. You’re switching between a $500 increment and a $1,000 increment, varying the number of children between 0, 1, and 2, and repeating the $35k and $100k numbers (which are distracting labels for the groups, not relevant numbers). Was the setup:
Option 1
rich 2-child pays $26,000
rich 0-child pays $27,000
poor 2-child pays $3,000
poor 0-child pays $4,000
Option 2
rich 2-child pays $25,000
rich 0-child pays $27,000
poor 2-child pays $3,000
poor 0-child pays $4,000
with Option 1 preferred when it’s a tax reduction (0-child is the baseline) and Option 2 preferred when it’s a tax penalty (2-child is the baseline)?
I might get rid of the numbers entirely, and just say something like: Another study explored the idea that families with more children should pay less in taxes, framing the tax difference as either a reduction or a penalty, and tested whether people thought the amount of the reduction/penalty should vary depending on the family’s income. In one version, two-child families pay less than families without children because of a tax reduction, and in the other families without children pay more than two-child families because of a tax penalty. Of course, the two versions are equivalent, but when it was framed as a tax penalty most people wanted the size of the penalty to increase as the family’s income increased, but when it was framed as a tax reduction most wanted the size of the reduction to be the same regardless of the family’s income.
Maybe you could add a sentence or two at the end with the relevant numbers.
Great post; thanks for providing these examples.
One textual complaint: This passage is unclear:
(Either/or question answered with yes/no.)
I had trouble following the whole child tax penalty/reduction example, and was going to request that Kaj_Sotala simplify or clarify the whole example (and fix that sentence in particular).
Fixed the sentence. Is there anything else that’s unclear in it?
There are a lot of numbers, and they aren’t given in a way that makes the important ones prominent and the parallelism between the two framings transparent. You’re switching between a $500 increment and a $1,000 increment, varying the number of children between 0, 1, and 2, and repeating the $35k and $100k numbers (which are distracting labels for the groups, not relevant numbers). Was the setup:
Option 1
rich 2-child pays $26,000
rich 0-child pays $27,000
poor 2-child pays $3,000
poor 0-child pays $4,000
Option 2
rich 2-child pays $25,000
rich 0-child pays $27,000
poor 2-child pays $3,000
poor 0-child pays $4,000
with Option 1 preferred when it’s a tax reduction (0-child is the baseline) and Option 2 preferred when it’s a tax penalty (2-child is the baseline)?
I might get rid of the numbers entirely, and just say something like: Another study explored the idea that families with more children should pay less in taxes, framing the tax difference as either a reduction or a penalty, and tested whether people thought the amount of the reduction/penalty should vary depending on the family’s income. In one version, two-child families pay less than families without children because of a tax reduction, and in the other families without children pay more than two-child families because of a tax penalty. Of course, the two versions are equivalent, but when it was framed as a tax penalty most people wanted the size of the penalty to increase as the family’s income increased, but when it was framed as a tax reduction most wanted the size of the reduction to be the same regardless of the family’s income.
Maybe you could add a sentence or two at the end with the relevant numbers.
Thanks, this is good feedback. I’ll make those changes shortly.
Edited.