Child Support is government tax
Too many people here are misunderstanding child support. Where did it come from? Why are Governments so invested in it? Why are they so determined to get it and what is it used for?
Child support was designed to get back tax for welfare payments made to single mothers raising their children on state care.
It was designed as a tax for the father to pay towards the social welfare money being paid out from the Government.
The formula was made and the actual designer of the formula had stated that this would not work on families outside of the welfare system. But the Governments didn’t care about that. They just wanted money to be coming in more than going out.
Why do countries operate child support systems?
This is a matter that needs to be deduced from the history. But time after time the answer always appears to be for one or both (ultimately both) of the following objectives. Everything else is just detail.
- To reduce child poverty.
- To reduce welfare spending.
Perceptions depend on the order in which things are done. For example, suppose that the social security (welfare) programme makes the first move (eg. Income Support) in order to relieve child poverty, and child support is added later. (This is the typical sequence – in the USA AFDC came before the latest child support reforms).
Sequence Perception
First: Income Support tops up a lone parent’s income to poverty relief levels. “Social security reduces child poverty.”
Later: Child support dictates how much the other parent pays. It enforces this payment. The child support goes to the lone parent, but the Income Support is reduced by exactly the same amount. “Child support is a Treasury-driven exercise to reduce social security expenditure (hence taxes), even though this keeps children at poverty-relief levels.”
But suppose things happened in a different order, and child support came first. (This does not normally happen. Child support tends to be an after-thought when nations realise they can’t afford the full implications of social security / welfare without help from the other parents).
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