FEDS CUT CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT

Congressional budget cutters are easing the federal government out of the child support enforcement business, slicing the federal government’s share of costs for the $5 billion program.

While states stand to lose an estimated $5 billion in matching funds over 10 years—
even more if they don’t fill the funding gap left by Congress—families stand to lose the most. According to the Congressional Budget Office, upwards of $8 billion will go uncollected from noncustodial parents.

Children will lose more from this cut than the government will save, according to the Center for Law and Social Policy (www.clasp.org).

The cut was included in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which was signed by President Bush in February.

The number of states that tax poor families increased from 17 to 19 in 2005, according to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (www.cbpp.org).

Eliminating state income taxes on working families with poverty-level incomes gives a boost in take-home pay that helps offset higher costs that families incur as they strive to become economically self-sufficient, said Nicholas Johnson, co-author of the report on state income taxes and the working poor. Relieving poor families of state income taxes, he says, “can make a meaningful contribution toward ‘making work pay.’”

Indiana, Michigan, Montana and Oregon are among the states that levy income taxes against families with poverty-level incomes.

Wal-Mart is starting to show signs of pressure from the AFL-CIO’s nationwide “fair share” state legislative campaign promoting laws that would require large corporations to spend a specified percentage of their payroll on health benefits for employees or pay into a state fund.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. CEO Lee Scott appealed to the nation’s governors at a meeting in Washington, D.C., for “a new commitment” by government and business to solve the healthcare “challenges” facing working families.

No doubt Scott’s appeal is directly related to the widespread publicity “fair share” legislation has garnered across the nation. Lawmakers and taxpayers alike are increasingly appalled by large, profitable employers like Wal-Mart that shift the cost of their employees’ healthcare to taxpayers by offering no insurance or by providing coverage that is unaffordable.