Wisconsin Provides $38,000 per year in Tax-Free Benefits to Single Mothers
Choosing Not to Marry the Fathers of Their Children
By Glenn Grothman
America's Biggest Problem: The Breakdown of the Family We are all grateful when children are not aborted. Nevertheless, out-of-wedlock births have grown from 10.7 percent in 1970 to 41 percent last year.
Also, unlike 1970, almost none of those children are placed for adoption. This despite (or because of) the fact that for the past 40 years we have had increasingly aggressive sex ed programs in the schools and now the government spends millions of dollars giving out free birth control to 15 year old girls without the knowledge or permission of parents.
Clearly, still more pushing of contraceptives on high schoolers is not the answer.
The left and the social welfare establishment wants children born out of wedlock because they are far more likely to be dependent on the government. They are 20 times more likely to wind up in prison and nine times more likely to drop out of school.
Well-known author Charles Murray said children born out of wedlock are "the single most important social problem of our time – more important than crime, drugs, poverty, illiteracy, welfare, or homelessness because it drives everything else."
While we can talk about jobs, education, or crime, our economy and freedoms will inevitably decline as long as the number of children born out of wedlock keeps going up.
Was this caused by the government, and if so, what are the politicians going to do to turn things around?
Let's look at current programs that are given largely to single parents that they would almost certainly lose if two working parents were married. It should be pointed out that these programs are available for everyone, but since they are based on family income, it is the norm that a single parent with one or no income is eligible and a couple with two incomes are not. Some married couples are eligible for these programs and some single parents do make too much money.
The page to the right significantly understates the benefit of these tax-funded programs. I did not include WIC which in our scenario provides additional food for our mother's 3-year-old child.
Likewise I did not include free school lunch or school breakfast for our 7-yearold.
The BadgerCare benefit is significantly understated in that the government's low reimbursement rate causes the $3,300 figure to be artificially low. Many recipients cheat by working for cash income and by not reporting income from a live-in boyfriend, which is rarely caught. Our single mother does not have to worry about saving for her child's college education because that child will be much more likely to be eligible for $8,000 per year in federal Pell Grants and the State of Wisconsin Higher Education Grant Program.
Because they are income-based, many children of married couples will not qualify for these college scholarships. I have recently heard that some young girls do not get married because they themselves get free college.
The government's message to America: Don't get married.
Let's look at some government programs available to a single woman with children ages 3 and 7, making $15,000 per year.
Low-Income Housing Assistance
*One is eligible for low-income housing if your income is less than 50% of the median income for your area. For a family of three, this HUD subsidy is $31,800 for the Milwaukee area. For a family of four, this would be $35,340.
The most you pay for rent is 30% of your income after subtracting utility payments.
**You can then deduct child care of $480 for each dependent. Afamily of three is entitled $7,560 to a $980 apartment from which they pay $350 per month for utilities and rent. This is a minimum subsidy of $630 per month or $7,560 per year.
Cash Value of Benefit Lost if Mother
Marries: $7,560
Wisconsin Shares-
Tax-Funded Day Care
Our mother is eligible for child care valued at $9,200 per year. We are assuming one of the two children is in school and does not need daycare. If she is married to the father, she loses this benefit.
Cash Value of Benefit Lost if Mother
Marries: $9,200
Earned Income Credit
Because our mother makes under $34,458 per year, she is eligible for a check of $4,820. If she gets married, she loses the entire check.
The State of Wisconsin will give her an additional credit of $700 for not being married.
Cash Value of Benefit Lost if Mother
Marries: $5,520
Food Stamps
Family of three is eligible for up to $525 in food stamps. This amount may be reduced as your income goes up or is adjusted for other factors including your rent, income, or utilities.
A family which gets rental assistance would still get $444 per month or $5,328 per year. They would lose this entire amount if mom got married.
To be eligible for some food stamps a family of three must make under $34,000 a year.
Cash Value of Benefit Lost if Mother
Marries: $5,328
BadgerCare
BadgerCare is a program for which all children are eligible, but our mother will only be eligible if her income is less than 185% of the federal poverty level.
Our mom pays no premium. If she were to marry, she would lose the benefit valued at $3,300 per year.
Cash Value of Benefit Lost if Mother
Marries: $3,300
Energy Assistance Energy assistance is a program for people whose income is less than 60% median income of the area.
In the Milwaukee area, this would mean an income of approximately $38,000 per year. The amount one receives each year varies with dollars available, but last year the average check was $688. Our mother would lose this amount if she were married.
Cash Value of Benefit Lost if Mother
Marries: $688
Milwaukee School Choice $6,440
If our mother lives in Milwaukee County, she is eligible for free private school tuition for her child, which has a value of $6,442 per year.
Eligibility for school choice is based on 185% of federal poverty which is $33,866 for a family of three and $40,792 for a family of four – the school choice program has a strong anti-family component.
Cash Value of Benefit Lost if Mother
Marries: $6,440
Some Possible Solutions to Restore
Wisconsin's Families
Politicians never address this problem. In so far as it is addressed, it is to increase the current benefits or be more aggressive in handing out contraception to younger children.
At the end of this Legislative Session, I introduced Senate Bill 708 which attempts to begin addressing this problem. Key provisions in the bill: Senate Bill 708 - http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2009/data/SB -708.pdf
Low Income Housing
A complaint I receive is that sometimes apartments available with Section 8 vouchers are superior to apartments people pay for themselves as well as boyfriends illegally staying in these apartments.
There is no asset limit for Section 8 housing. We should restrict the square footage to 50 percent of the average square footage for a rental unit in the area and an asset limitation of $2,000 for non-seniors living in Section 8 housing.
We can make it a criminal penalty if an adult not considered in the income calculation stays in the residence.
Earned Income Credit
The Wisconsin Earned Income Credit should be replaced with a general tax exemption going to all Wisconsin taxpayers with dependents.
Food Stamps
A complaint I frequently hear from clerks in food stores is the people on food stamps eat more generously than people not on food stamps.
We should restrict the type of food which can be purchased with food stamps. This food would be more nutritious than most food now purchased with food stamps.
Some may say this is harsh, but we cannot continue to have the single mom buy food that the married clerk at the food store could not afford. Recent news coverage has started detailing abuse in the Food Share program.
Drug Testing
Testing for drug use will be required for eligibility for these government programs.
Daycare
We have seen numerous reports featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the many fraud cases involving the Wisconsin Shares Program. This is a $400-million tax-funded daycare program.
To reform this bloated program, my bill restricts the number of hours of free daycare to 40 hours per week per child. The bill also sets a minimum co-payment of $2 per hour per child to discourage cheating in the system.
School Choice
Income limitations in the Milwaukee School Choice program must end. Right now as a practical matter, many married couples are not eligible for the program because they make too much money with two incomes.
It is inexcusable that a single mother making $15,000 gets her kid out of the Milwaukee Public Schools but a married couple earning $50,000 is stuck in the public schools.
Ask elected officials what their plans are for the eroding nuclear family in America.
I realize the above is going to be criticized as unnecessarily harsh.
Right now, the out-of-wedlock birth rate in America is 41 percent. Unless we do something now, in 20 years it will be 60 percent.
There are many single mothers who do a good job raising their children, but statistics also show that it is a very difficult thing to do and many of these children will have problems.
If we do not address this situation, our country will not survive in the way we have come to know it. SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.
It is also somewhat outrageous that some married couples feel they can only afford one or two children in part because they are paying excessive taxes to provide programs for someone else to have four or five children.
For Further Information about my efforts to
restore Wisconsin's families, please contact
me at: Sen.Grothman@legis.wisconsin.gov
http://www.legis.wi.gov/senate/sen20/news