This is the scenario As a single mom I have lied about my income in order to kee

Question

This is the scenario

As a single mom I have lied about my income in order to keep daycare assistants. Unfortunately, when I filed my taxes, it caught up to me and I had to pay it all back, but it served its purpose. Why I did this: I left first husband while pregnant with our second child and I knew I would have to take a maternity leave. However, LOA doesn't pay your light bill. So, I worked 17-hour shifts (my mom watched my son after daycare) and saved up so I could afford to take the 6 weeks off after having him. In order to have money to put back I couldn't risk my apartment rent going up (income based) or losing my ccs (child care services= helps with daycare). Because I saved so much, none of us did without during my leave. Like I said though, I got penalized and had to pay the daycare portion back, which I didn’t mind doing with a payment plan. But out of necessity, I had to lie which is uncharacteristic. I don’t know if this fit. But it’s the closest I have. We could circle back to post conventional morality.

This is the question:

What reciprocal relationships played a role within this scenario?

Explanation / Answer

Lies are immoral because they are an illegitimate means to an ends. It goes against Kant’s categorical imperative that we should never lie, regardless of the consequences of not getting a confession in what may be an important case.

We see here various aspects of motherly instincts created the whole situation. From a mother’s perspective (similar to that of animals), duties towards her child care always will be the topmost priority. Another aspects of mother characters is guilty consciousness. From her guilty consciousness of breaking the law is a sign of good citizenship and having high ethical standards. Finally we observe this situation holistically, we can that she realizes she is happy that although she was fined for attempted tax evading, she was able raise her child the way she wanted. So, it’s a win-win situation.

The main reason behind taxation is equitable distribution of wealth. Here, state acts as a facilitator of welfarism. So, this case is an exception where a needy mother should either be provided with social security else exempted from the tax laws. This is a classic case where state should act as a welfare state and provide a lending hand for exceptional cases like this.

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