Quick, can you name the three countries that have no law providing for paid family leave?

Hint: You are most likely reading this in one of them right now.

Besides the United States, Suriname and Papua New Guinea are the only other countries that don’t at least offer paid maternity leave. And we all totally know our geography well enough that I don’t need to tell you where those other countries are.

We Americans are so competitive that our corporations pour millions of dollars into our Olympic teams, so you’d think people would be clamoring to stay a step ahead of the Surinamese, right? Think again.

In our latest poll at HeraldNet.com, we asked if you’d support a bill in the state Legislature that would provide 12 weeks of paid family leave for workers. The vote was a resounding 63 percent no.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. June Robinson, D-Everett, would provide workers with two-thirds of their wages for up to 12 weeks, capped at $1,000 a week. It’s a modest proposal – nothing lavish like the workers’ paradise of Cameroon and its 14 weeks of maternity leave at 100 percent pay or those socialists in Iran and their 6 months at full pay.

Robinson’s bill would pay for family leave with a 0.2 percent payroll tax on both workers and employers. That equates to $100 a year for a worker making $50,000. It would be enough to catch us up to California, New Jersey and Rhode Island, the states that have paid leave.

The rub seems to be that three-letter word, “tax,” which tends to prompt a negative reaction. A little creative marketing could be needed to push the bill through – perhaps some rebranding. How would you feel about a “parental amnesty contribution”?

— Doug Parry, @parryracer

Next up, we’d like your opinion on a bill that would allow people to use gender-segregated places that match their gender identity.