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Profit Analysis of Child Support Guidelines Identifying false
profits in the name of our children |
Jim Untershine, GZS of LB, 06-06-03
A state can receive a profit from the taxpayers for collecting child support arrearages, provided Child Support Enforcement (CSE) gets involved. If a state’s child support guideline is outrageous enough to cause the noncustodial parent (NCP) to fall behind in child support or become unemployed, the custodial parent (CP) will be forced to file for CSE involvement when the family finally begs for welfare (TANF). It is important to realize that if a state imposes a fair child support guideline and the NCP never falls behind in child support payments, the state will never receive a profit.
Although the taxpayers are obligated to pay states incentives and bonuses regarding various aspects of welfare related programs, the analysis that follows focuses on child support arrearage and collection.
FEDERAL INCENTIVES
Federal incentives are paid to a state as a function of the state's total collections from the NCP and the state's administration costs. The collections made from NCPs, divided by the state's administrative costs, must exceed 1.4 to receive more than 6.5% of the collections as a profit paid by the taxpayers. \1 The equation below is used to compute the percentage of collections paid to the state by the taxpayers if the collection to cost ratio exceeds 1.4.
1) Incentive percentage = 3 + 2.5*(Collections/Costs)
For example: California distributed a total of $2.06 billion collected from NCPs while expending $676 million in administrative costs for year 2000. \2 This would yield a collection to cost ratio of 3.05 or:
Incentive percentage = 3 + 2.5*(3.05) = 10.6%.
The incentive percentage described in equation 1) increases with the increase in collections or the decrease in administration costs.
Collections
A state can maximize their collections by maximizing the number of NCPs obligated to pay child support. States adopting an outrageous child support guideline will serve to entice a dependant parent to divorce the family breadwinner. New federal legislation that entices CPs who filed for welfare to get married again may provide the means to create many NCPs from one CP. \3
A state’s child support guideline is very important in the implementation of a successful family law money machine. Lawmakers at the state and federal level are being kept completely in the dark regarding the actual amount NCPs are required to pay in child support. This cloak of invisibility allows states to financially hammer NCPs into the ground while those who are empowered to change the laws are being told their state’s guideline is fair.
For example: California demands an NCP with 2 children and earning $4,400 per month net income to pay $1,760 per month child support. \4 Policy Studies Inc. (PSI) conducted the federally mandated California child support guideline review in 2001, telling the state legislature that the average child support order for 2 children is $667 per month. \5 The Institute for Family and Social Responsibility (FASR) reported to the Ways and Means Committee that a California NCP with 2 children earning $4,400 per month income must only pay $770 per month. \6 PSI under-reported the California child support guideline to the state legislature by $1,093 per month, while FASR under-reported the California child support guideline to the U.S. House of Representatives by $990 per month.
Administration Costs
A state that wishes to increase the incentive percentage could choose to minimize the administrative costs associated with operating the CSE program. States that have flippantly adopted a reasonable child support guideline have actually been forced to reduce the CSE workforce, due to the lack of arrearages to collect. States that maintain an appropriately outrageous child support guideline may choose to lay-off the products of nepotism that are paid to sit around with their thumbs up their ass and watch the arrearages grow until they tattle on the NCP to the Treasury, Labor, and Transportation Department in their deprivation of rights and privileges, before dropping a dime to the Justice Department. New Federal legislation that encourages employers to hire, give raises and promotions to CPs who filed for welfare may allow the replacement of the existing mob of shameless enforcers with a minimum wage group of CPs to allow them to discover the reason they were deprived of child support payments and their family was forced to welfare. \7
CHILD SUPPORT ARREARAGE
The state's total collections from NCPs include the child support arrearages and the interest on the arrearages. The equation below describes the total child support arrearage if a NCP never makes a payment (CS = child support per month, t = months, I = interest).
2) Child support arrearage = CS*t + I*CS*t*(t+1)/2 \8
For example: California’s child support guideline for 3 children and NCP earning $4,400 per month would amount to CS = $2,200 per month child support and I = 10%/12months = 1/120 interest every month for t = 18years*12 = 216 months. The total collection after 18 years would be
Child support arrearage = ($2,200)*216 + (1/120)*($2,200)*(216)*(217)/2 = $475,200 child support + $429,660 interest = $904,860
The above examples show that if a deadbeat dad finally paid off in year 2000, California would receive from the taxpayers:
Incentive = (Child support arrearage) * (incentive percentage) = ($904,860)*(10.6%) = $95,915
The child support arrearage described in equation 2) increases with an increase in NCP income, children, interest, or time.
NCP income
To maximize the child support arrearage the state must insure that the parent earning the highest income before the divorce does not get custody of the children. This will maximize the cash flow between parents that will be interrupted after the NCP is driven into financial insolvency and becomes unemployed. The state must impose a child support guideline that causes the NCP to fall behind in child support , otherwise the state will not be entitled to receive a profit from the taxpayers in their exploitation of children for money.
Children
A state can only increase the number of children by employing paternity fraud. Although this practice is commonly used by some states, it is coming under much scrutiny by many groups who feel that it is somehow unfair. California governor Grey Davis stands alone in advocating paternity fraud for profit, while other states like Georgia just try to get away with it. \9
Interest
Although the interest that is allowed to be charged on child support arrearages is specified to range from 3% to 6% per annum, many states, like California, charge 10% per annum. \10
Time
A state can increase the interest charged on child support arrearages by making it impossible for the NCP to pay. By utilizing the tools provided by the federal mandate, a state can legally exile an NCP to self-employment, deny the NCP to hold a business or drivers license, and impose a financial embargo on the NCP. \11 Many states mistakenly utilize the federal mandate to protect the NCP from discrimination by their employer due to child support wage withholding orders and hold the employer responsible if the wage withholding is not paid. \12 Allowing a NCP the luxury of paying child support will decrease the state’s well deserved profit.
A state that mistakenly pursues a NCP before allowing the child support arrearage to reach an acceptable level may inadvertently provoke the NCP to obtain a downward modification from a soft-hearted Civil Court judge attempting to sabotage the CSE agenda and denying CSE the fruits of their labor.
For example: California CSE agencies allow the child support arrearage to reach $70,000 before asking the NCP to answer to criminal non-support charges, while the arrest of the NCP depends on how long the District Attorney can hold off a desperate CP demanding for something to be done. \13
CONCLUSIONS
Each state's child support guideline should match what is reported to the state and federal legislators to maintain a sense of propriety and avert a family law "tea party" involving CPs, NCPs, children, and taxpayers hitting the streets, demanding:"No taxation by misrepresentation", "Crime don't pay people do", "Get what you pay for, stop paying if you don't", and "You can kiss my ass and we'll call it even".
CITATIONS:
Jim Untershine, 824 E Pass Rd #3, Gulfport, MS 39507, gzs@gndzerosrv.com, www.gndzerosrv.com
Jim Untershine holds a BSEE from Mississippi State University and has 13 years experience in feedback control system design. Mr. Untershine is currently using the teachings of Werner Heisenberg and Henry David Thoreau to expose Family Law in California as the exploitation of children for money and the indentured servitude of heterosexual taxpayers who dare to raise children in this country.