[mytailorisrich]

France has many, many benefits for parents.

I think people feel the pinch because growth has been at best very low for a long time while inflation has accelerated in the past few years.

On the other hand, population has to stop growing at some point and, say, immigration has already been causing huge problems in France.

[sylware]

... and since the economy cannot give pertinent jobs to all households, many need a social accomodation... and the french gov is unable to provide enough "decent" ones (this is a very, VERY, complicated matter, a very slow process). French president Macron did acknowledge openly and recently that France has an immigration issue. Things may start to be uglier: immigrants (1st/2nd gen) are now competing for this resource with natives.

[mytailorisrich]

It's like in the UK. They say that immigration is a problem because people are unhappy about it but they do nothing about it and, in fact, push for more.

[retinaros]

no there is literally none if you earn more than the lower middle class. if you poor yes you have lot of benefits

[mytailorisrich]

The French do not usually realise how good they have it.

Income tax depends on number of children.

Nursery fees depend on income.

I believe cost of school meals depend on income.

Child benefits payments. I think this is now based on income but it used not to be.

Cash payment at beginning of school year to help pay for school stuff, etc. though I think this is also depending on income.

So sure lower earners benefit more but everyone gets something.

Many countries would think this is very good.

I am French and I moved to the UK a long time ago. My income tax actually went up. In the UK income tax depends on... income. Your children are irrelevant.

[vidarh]

I had no idea about the family quotient stuff. I'm actually considering moving to France some years down the line, and assuming my partner and I marry and have kids, then based on the current income difference between us, being able to rebalance that (which you may know you can't do in the UK) and the reduction for a child, we'd pay significantly less than we do in the UK..

[retinaros]

so the only thing you get is 0,5 person tax deduction per children. everything else is for lower incomes. you are right its not nothing but knowing these children will pay for the current generation retirement this is a very small upside

[orwin]

0.5 for the first and second child, 1 for the 3rd? Also you get "free" retirement semester per child (4 for giving birth for the mother, 4 for taking care of a child for at least 9 years, to be divided between both parents (biological or not). Free education is for everyone, as is free healthcare. Really cheap meals if whatever your income is, almost free to cheap music classes, almost free club participation (even if you have a QF of 10, 50% of the cost is still paid by the relevant state echelon, or the CAF). And let's be honest, if your QF is 8 or more in a big city with a single child, you aren't middle class: it mean your monthly revenue (pre income taxes, since those are influenced by your QF) is higher than 8k.

A lot of benefits do disappear when your QF is higher than 6 to be fair with you, but still.