Non-census | Imamother

greenfire

Mon, Apr 20 2020, 2:00 pm

so I'm of the belief that the census is actually nonsense ... why on earth would they need to count people that are all already on the roster some way or another

births in hospitals get birth certificates & social security cards, kids in school, tax returns, green cards, etc.

they know we exist & those who wish to stay under the radar will do so regardless of any headcount

Frumme

Mon, Apr 20 2020, 2:22 pm

There are a few important reasons for a census, but mainly it's important for political and economic reasons. A census counts everyone in each individual city and state. The higher or lower the population in each city or state affects things like voting (how many representatives each state gets, how many electoral votes a state can give, etc). In addition, just because there are birth certificates and tax returns does not mean that the government knows where people are moving to or from. This helps a state or county decide where to place things like courthouses.

Not submitting a census response only hurts your local community and state in the long run.

zaq

Mon, Apr 20 2020, 2:27 pm

Because this is how they get all their data in one place in a consistent format so it's usable. You don't seriously think the various agencies that use these data are going to be able to go individually to each municipal health department to collect the birth certificates for every person born in the past 10 years, review every tax return, survey each state's motor vehicle dept. records, and collect data from every school district, do you? And then collate and compare the records to extract from each of those documents the exact info that they need? Those documents are not necessarily up to date. People move around. They may still have a driver license from one state despite having moved to another state five years ago. They may never have lived at all in the city or state in which they were born. The Morris P. DePew who was born in Brooklyn on May 3, 2010 is now a middle-schooler in Springfield, Illinois, so New York should get $X fewer for education and illinois should get $X more, but you won't know that from his birth certificate. it would be a Herculean task to follow the paper trail to work this out. A census makes much more sense.

soap suds

Mon, Apr 20 2020, 4:32 pm

On the other hand, census relies on people self reporting. How many people don't bother replying at all? It's not all that accurate either. I'd think that birth certificates, drivers license, etc. would be more accurate. As for collecting all that data, shouldn't be too hard in today's technological world. Either way they have to collect the information.