$25 Child Support Fee Re-targeted...
This spring Idaho received a mandate from the Federal government that those that are using the Child Support Payment administration program within Health and Welfare needed to pay $25 for it's use. This money would be used back in Washington D.C. to reduce the Federal deficit (yes, that deficit that was caused by overspending of the folks back east).
Options for paying for this program were to charge the users; custodial parent, non-custodial parent or State general funds used to operate the Department of H&W. The department determined after consideration of all fees and taxes paid by everyone, that the custodial parent receiving child support payments should be required to pay the $25 annual fee.
As one would imagine, there was quite an outcry from those custodial parents about having to not only raise their children on child support payments, but also have to pay a $25 fee to boot. Many calls, letters and emails were sent to the Department as well as the Governor's office.
It appears that there has now been a reversal of this issue, the charges will now be borne by the non-custodial parent. I received the following letter from the Governor and the Dir. of H&W this week:
"You received a letter in September from the Department of Health and Welfare about Idaho's implementation of the federally mandated $25 annual child support fee to aid in reducing the federal deficit. The department decided at the time to charge the fee to custodial parents.
Health and Welfare began collecting fees on October 1, 2007. After implementing the federal mandate, the department and the Governor's Office received considerable feedback from the public and custodial parents. Upon further review, we feel it is in the best interest of children and the State to reverse the previous decision and collect the $25 fee from non-custodial parents.
The temporary proposed rule assessing the fee to custodial parents is being rescinded and vacated effective December 6, 2007, and will publish in the January 2, 2008, Administrative Bulletin. This rule will be presented for approval during the 2008 legislative session.
Health and Welfare stopped collecting the fee from custodial parents effective December 7, 2007. The department is coordinating refunds to all custodial parents who had already paid the fee. Although this proposed change in rule add an additional cost to non-custodial parents, the rule change helps ensure children received full child support.
We realize the negative impact the $25 fee has, regardless of who pays the fee imposed by congressional action; however, the department must comply with federal law. As Governor, I have written Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt expressing concern about the action taken to balance the budget on the backs of states and children receiving child support. We hope our decision to assess the fee to non-custodial parents will minimize the impact to Idaho children.
If you have question that this letter does not address, please don't hesitate to contact Russ Barron (barronr@dhw.idaho.gov) or Kandee Yearsley (yearslek@dhw.idaho.gov) by email or by telephone (208-334-5815). "
It frustrates me that any citizen of Idaho is being "charged" to pay for a deficit caused by overspending at the federal level in the first place. Idaho citizens should not approve of this happening at all and I will be interested to find out what kind of response Gov. Otter receives back from Secretary Leavitt. Putting this kind of burden on family members that are already in a stressful situation (either custodial or non-custodial) does not help them get themselves back on track to a normal life.
This type of governmental regulation is exactly what the Family Task Force looked for during our hearings this summer and we will be focused on abating. Any government regulation that puts further burden upon already stressed families is not appropriate and should be avoided if at all possible. In the long run, policies such as this not only cost families (in Dollars and increased stress) but puts further burden on the state tax payer as well.
Your thoughts?....
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14 comments:
We just received our notification in the mail about the fee now being charged to the non-custodial parent. When the custodial parent told me about this fee that she was being charged I was outraged. We are the non-custodial parents so now the fee is ours, and I am still outraged. It is very easy for custodial parents to suggest to charge the non-custodial parents, especially if they are having trouble collecting their support. But I think we all need to look at the bigger picture. Why, WHY are we, as tax payers, being asked to pay fees to pay down the National debt? Please tell me that we are not the only people that feel that this is completely wrong. Paying monthly child support is a struggle for our family. We have NEVER missed a payment. There are definitely some serious problems with the Child Support system. But to generalize that the non-custodial parents are all deadbeats isn't fair to those of us that aren't. We need to think of the children AND the parents of these children (BOTH PARENTS)...having children is a wonderful blessing, but it isn't cheap. Paying down the National deficit is important, but I am SURE there are other places that these fees can come from that don't cause hardships on families that are already struggling to do the best they can.
The closing statement attempts, how ever weak in manner, sympathy for the parent having to pay a fee, for which they did not cause. But I find it is still an insult for the non-custodial parent, whom, like myself, scrapes by every month to ensure my children are getting the care, health benefits, and attention they need from me. Instead of taxing the working person that ACTUALLY contributes to the economy and daily life we take for granted, lets cut back the RIDICULOOUS salaries we continue to pump into people that are SUPPOSED to BE WORKING FOR the people of America! This to me is just another greedy tactic by the so called law makers to stuff their already fat faces with a little more grease. I am VERY Ashamed. My 15 year old manages her money better than our government!
~with Disgust- RB of Boise, ID
I just received the letter today letting me know of this change. First of all, it is absolutely wrong to pass this mandate. The sad thing is that it effects the people in the lower income bracket the most (the ones with the smallest voice in this country). The really sad part is that no one in the the news reported on this at all. Looks to me that it was a very sneaky way of getting more money out of the people that can't afford to challenge this.
For me, however, the $25 isn't such a big deal, but it's the principal of the matter.
In my case, I am the custodial parent, however, I still have to pay my son's mother every month because she doesn't make very much money. Anyone who has been through the child support system knows how they come up with who pays what. I have my son the majority of the time, but I still have to pay. I pay $101 per month (not very much) and it's no problem. So if I pay every month and the Department of Health and Welfare never has to deal with me, except to give my son's mother the money. Why should I have to pay an annual fee?
In all reality, I wish I could just pay her directly, but my lawyer said I should go through the state for my own protection. Little did I know that if I ever have to call H&W, I get treated like a dead beat parent solely for the fact that I am the paying parent. They also assume that because I am the paying parent, I am the non-custodial parent. I don't deserve to be treated like that. When I tell them this, they just say that I am one of the few. Well, they're not getting paid to assume.
So this is what this $25 is going towards? This state needs a serious Health and Welfare overhaul.
Back to the annual fee. Since I'm the custodial parent, AND I am the one paying the support, where does this leave me? The Dept. never has had to force me to pay, so why am I paying? To reduce the deficit? I pay alot of taxes per year (I am middle class), and I have to pay this as well? This is seriously wrong, and it's even more sad that the media has never picked this up. Try doing a google search on this, and you will hardly find anything. Out of a national search, this forum from Idaho was on the first results page.
My child support has already been calculated to be "fair". Why is only one party having to pay the whole fee? It should be shared!!!
This debate should not be about WHO pays this fee, but the sneaky underhanded additional "tax" placed on either parent to pay down the federal national debt. All parents, all Americans, should immediately contact their represetatives to tell them, not ask, revoke this insult of a piece of legislation.
Furthermore, whoever initated, sponsored, and voted to pass this law should be put on everyones "Vote out of office" list as they are not representing the American public.
GJ - Boise, Idaho
I've never had to go through the stress of paying child support..I have children who have had to. But my issue is WHY does paying down the national debt have to be upon the shoulders of those who can afford it the least. A bigger 'why' is what is wrong with our legislators in Washington? Why are we paying countries like France, Germany, etc. (I know there are more than those two) monies that they will NEVER pay back when we could be using those monies to support OUR NATION and it's people. I take care of my family first then move on to community and so on. Why is it we have to pay the world first and we go without just to keep the peace with everyone. Does anyone or any country ever come to our aid....? Yes a few have but NOT like we're expected to for the world. We are a generally kind and giving nation but all to much our good works are taken advantage of by the world and by some of it's own citizens let alone the illegal people who come in to the country expecting to have everything the rest of us have worked all our lives to have a small amount of. When are we going to start tapping in to some good old fashioned common sense and start using our heads to make intelligent decisions. I vote NO in charging either parent a 'fee' to pay down the national debt!!!! WHAT A LAME EXCUSE AND TERRIBLE WAY FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO TREAT IT'S OWN. Hey congress...try not putting so much "pork" into the bills...BE HONEST for a change...WOW...what a concept! CB in Twin Falls
I received my notice for the Annual Collection Fee to all non-custodial parents. I am very angry about this as we as non-custodial parents seem to be second rate. The legislators know that the majority of custodial parents live in Idaho and that there is a great deal of non-custodial parents that live beyond the border. Either way we as non-custodial parents should have been given the same amount of time to generate feedback as the custodial parents were given before the decision was made. The Federal Government tells Idaho one thing and the state changes it as they see fit. No backbone as I see it; got to get that vote! Payments classified as child support are not taxable to the payee spouse and not tax deductible by the payer spouse. Just how fair is that to begin with to the non-custodial parent. Then they want a fee? I barely have enough to pay my monthly expenses and yet the custodial parent is doing great per her explanation of how it’s going. If anything the fee should be split down the middle or to the person that doesn’t pay taxes on child support income. Let that be their tax.
One word:
"DISCRIMINATION"
Thats all I have to say.
I just read in the Idaho State Journal that H&W is only collecting the $25 fee from 6,690 cases. Seems these are the only cases that aren't not in arrears. My case is is one of these. I am the non-custodial parent and am actually overpaid. Here's what the ISJ says about the defecit we are paying. "We can be critical of this being in the Deficit Reduction Act, but on the other side of the coin, the federal government provides many services to help collect child support fees, including federal tax offsets, bank account data matching and holding up the issuance of passports if child support payments are not current."
All of these actions are exclusive to cases in arrears. So why are those of us who are current and living up to our duties as parents being taxed? From the ISJ about cases in arrears, "Health & Welfare has ruled these out of the equation for one overriding reason—since they are behind in payments, any money we collect from them has to go to the children to pay off the arrears. If the parent pays the department the $25 fee, by federal law it must go to pay their arrears, not to meet the federal $25 fee." There are 34,359 cases in arrears and we 6,690 who are not have to pay for federal costs to collect from them. Now that just TEES me off!! All tax payers have the burden of paying social security taxes to care for our older generations. We pay taxes that go to welfare even for illegals and those who 'ride' the system. None of which is pleasant. So why don't we all share this burden as well? The state cannot collect the entire amount mandated by the feds with the $25 from 6,690 non-custodial parents. I have a better idea. Let's tell Congress to stick it you know where and pay the defecit from all those raises they vote for themselves each year.
I must also comment to this quote from Adam (Proud Father), "Little did I know that if I ever have to call H&W, I get treated like a dead beat parent solely for the fact that I am the paying parent."
I feel the same way. I have been dealing with Idaho H&W for 10 years now and am always talked to like I'm dirt. I get anxious and can't sleep if I receive a phone message that H&W has 'a couple questions' for me or I receive mail with their address on it. I have paid for ten years on the self reliance program. They haven't had to hunt me down and force me to pay. I was called this week and told that since my order has wage withholding language that they will now start enforcing that. Not really a big deal as it takes the task out of my hands but honestly.....they are trying to fix what isn't broken.
Thanks for reading my rant.
If this was imposed on poeple of race it would be racesist
I realize that this is an old article. I just imagine there might be an automatic notification in this system - so someone should notice my comment: The solution is to get rid of the federal child support collection system. There has - predictably - been no increase in the percent paid of what is ordered since the program began. It's a pork-barrel program - for what? - to support itself. Shutting it down will save billions annually in federal spending.
I know this article is about a year old now but it still pisses me off. My husband has'nt even seen his children in over 7 years! His ex wife likes to make sure they want nothing to do with him. I have never even met his children!! Long story short he works 40 hours a week and only brings home $250 dollars every 2 weeks. We are barely able to live. I bring home the majority of our income and I only make $10 and hour! Because of this we live in a dumpy little trailer and we are so behind on everything I sometimes wonder how long we can live like this. We didn't even recieve a letter telling us about the $25 fee. All we got was a post card that said we now have to pay the fee and that it will go toward the national defecit. It did mention that due to comments from custodial parents it was changed to make non-custodial parents pay. What the hell? And it said it was $25 a year but it shows up on every statement. We called the child support dept. at Health and Welfare and were told that it will show up on every bill but only billed once. Um ya. It adds on the total we owe EVERY month. Why? Why were we told one thing and billed another? And why should WE have to pay for this stupid thing anyway? ERRR! I'm still so irritated and its been a year since we recieved the post card. It's frustrating that we're having a very hard time as it is and now we have to pay the defecit too. WE didnt make the defecit. And it does no good to talk to anyone in the government. The don't care about us and when they try to act like they do clearly its just a lie. ERR!
Are we now the single parents, paying for the government financial bailout? Are we also paying those on public assistance their benenfits as well? It seems to me it is another sad day in this country when single parnets(most who are struggling to make ends meet) are taking care of both ends of our country's financial spectrum.
Maybe these "single parents" that are having issues about paying the fee...and paying the child support, should have thought about that before having children. Did they not realize that they would have to support them every which way regardless of whether or not they are married, never married, divorced...why in the world did they bother to have children who have ended up living in single parent situations and not in a family atmosphere. I just feel bad for the kids, both parents are paying the price, one way or another.
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