Head Of Household

Categories: Tax, Accounting

Homer Simpson, Mike Brady, Colonel Potter, Peter Griffin, Stephen Keaton, Tony Soprano. They were all heads of household.

But big whoop. Why does this matter? Well, for tax and legal purposes, the head of household is deemed decision-worthy. And note the genderlessness of this term. It came to really be a Thing in the '70s when divorce was also becoming a Thing, and women in many states were not legally deemed viable to make decisions on, you know...complex things that women couldn't possibly know anything about, like finance and the law and home ownership.

So the head of household term came into being, and it mattered a lot before gay marriage was basically legalized in this country, and many other definitions of "household" began to emerge.

We're wondering what happens when housing costs get so high that nobody can afford homes any more. Is there like a Head of Winnebagohold term coming soon?

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)