Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) is receiving criticism for a commonsense comment he made a few years ago. The Republican vice presidential nominee correctly said childless people should pay more in taxes than parents who make the same amount of money.

Yet, Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is attacking Vance for this innocuous stance.

“JD Vance’s attacks on childless Americans is even vile,” Harris campaign rapid response director Ammar Moussa posted on X. “He called for HIGHER taxes on those without children.”

Moussa linked to an article highlighting Vance’s position that families with children should receive tax breaks.

“So, you talk about tax policy, let’s tax the things that are bad and not tax the things that are good,” Vance said in a 2021 interview with Charlie Kirk, according to the article. “If you are making $100,000, $400,000 a year, and you’ve got three kids, you should pay a different, lower tax rate than if you are making the same amount of money and you don’t have any kids. It’s that simple.”

As a single 27-year-old with no children, I agree with Vance, as do the tax code and politicians in both parties.

Our tax code already contains several provisions allowing parents to pay lower taxes than those without children. These include the child tax credit of $2,000 per child, the $15,950-per-child adoption tax credit, a significantly larger earned income tax credit for parents, the child and dependent care credit, and joint income tax filing for married couples — the latter primarily benefits families with a stay-at-home parent.

Both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden expanded the child tax credit while in office. However, Biden’s expansion only lasted one year, and the Trump increase will expire next year unless extended.

Plus, the House voted 357-70 earlier this year on a bill to increase the child tax credit. The bill would increase its refundability from $1,600 per child to $2,000 per child while indexing the credit to inflation. It’s such a popular idea that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) each voted yes on the proposal.

Raising a child in the United States costs, on average, over $20,000 per year per child, according to Lending Tree. That’s a significant expense that childless people lack.

If society can help reduce the burden of raising the next generation by letting parents keep more of the money they earn, that is a good thing. These pro-family sections of our tax code help reduce childhood poverty, single-parent homes, and abortions while incentivizing marriage, childrearing, adoption, and parents spending time with their children in a country where the birth rate, 1.62 children per woman, is well below replacement level, 2.1.

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If we want to avoid economic stagnation, a higher abortion rate, and American cultural decay, the country should pursue policies that encourage couples to have more children. If that means further tax cuts for parents and no new tax breaks for childless people, including me, so be it.

Liberals will criticize Vance for increasingly absurd reasons such as this one. However, people across the political spectrum should appreciate his commitment to increasing the child tax credit and killing the earned income tax credit’s marriage penalty. He wants to make life more affordable for families. We should praise Vance for this stance, not attack him.

Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a political reporter for the New Boston Post in Massachusetts.