False pretense of child-support bill

By Tony Curtis
Published: Monday, March 12, 2007 9:49 a.m. MDT
E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
Senate Bill 23, raising child support by 15 percent to 25 percent in most cases, sneaked past the Legislature under the false pretense of adjusting for inflation. When surveyed individually, many lawmakers were unaware that child support, like income tax, is based on a percentage of income.

This means as wages increase due to inflation, so does the base child support obligation. In fact, inflation rose 31.8 percent since the last increase of child support tables in 1994, and child support has kept pace during that time (e.g. child support for a median income family with two children grew 31.1 percent).

The idea that we need to increase child support tables for inflation is like saying, "The Utah income tax percentage hasn't increased since 1994! We need to increase the tax rate by 32 percent to keep up with inflation!" Anybody for a tax hike?

While the child support adjustment is not automatic, a parent can call the Office of Recovery Services to initiate and complete the action at no cost, and without the need for an attorney. Every three years the ORS sends out a letter to custodial parents notifying them that they can use ORS services to administer the increase and determine the amount.

Story continues below
Another argument for the bill is that support for one child is low in Utah, but the bill increases child support across the board for families with one through six children. In Utah the vast majority of noncustodial parents pay child support for one to three children; they will all see an increase. Child support will also be raised for more than 81 percent of cases with four to six children. Why increase child support for parents with two through six children if the main issue is one-child families?

In fact, SB23 will make Utah one of the highest child support states in the region. With few exceptions, median income families in Utah with one through six children will have higher child support than Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana or Oregon. Utah child support for two children is higher than Washington and California, in addition to the five states mentioned above.

After taking into account child support, taxes, medical insurance, day care, housing and minimal transportation expenses, the noncustodial father in a median-income two-child family has about $200 per month to live on, while the mother has more than $1,200 per month. How is this father supposed to feed and care for himself or his children (they spend 25 percent of their lives with him under minimum parent time) on $200 per month?

If Gov. Huntsman signs this bill into law, the 25 percent increase will be added to any inflation increase, which could be 10 to 20 percent, yielding a total increase in child support payments of 35 to 45 percent in many cases. This over-inflation of financial support may cause the bubble to burst, creating a greater burden on many Utahns and their children.

Tony Curtis, a software engineer from West Jordan, has been a noncustodial parent for 13 years.

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.