Adoptive Parents Deserve Proposed Tax Break

May 14, 1996

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To the Editor:

David S. Liederman argues that the proposed tax credit for couples who adopt children is "the wrong way to encourage adoption" (Op-Ed, May 9). He may be right. But the encouragement of adoption is only a debatable byproduct of such a tax credit.

The main reason is to offer adopting parents the financial breaks that biological parents receive. For a couple who are able to have their own biological children, the heavy medical expenses of prenatal care and delivery are offset by health insurance and could be in part tax-deductible.

But for an adopting couple the costs and fees for adoption are not defrayed by either means. The proposed tax credit would rectify this imbalance.

RUFUS HALLMARK Brooklyn, May 10, 1996

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 22 of the National edition with the headline: Adoptive Parents Deserve Proposed Tax Break. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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