On this 4th day of June 2002 the National Council of Child Support Directors resolves that:
Congress reject the budget proposal to assess the $25 annual user fee on families who have never received assistance under a state program funded under part A, Title IV, of the Social Security Act.
The National Council of Child Support Directors is committed to increasing child support collections and to improving the delivery of child support services to children and families. We are also committed to having fair and equitable treatment of all families. We support ensuring that all families have access to child support services. Proposals such as an annual fee of $25 for all never assistance cases are not administratively cost efficient or effective and treat families in unequal ways.
Imposing an annual $25 service fee on families who have never received TANF assistance places an unequal burden on such families and works against existing public policy to encourage families to remain self-sufficient. Under the Administration's proposal, the $25 annual fee would be imposed on top of other fees and charges already in place. The economic circumstances of many never-assistance families are indistinguishable from TANF or former TANF families. Never assistance families include those who have been diverted from welfare and receive child care or other services from TANF that do not qualify as TANF "assistance" and other low-wage earning families who choose to not rely on government TANF assistance if at all possible.
A low wage-earning single parent who is barely keeping his or her family afloat, but who has avoided going on welfare needs child support services just as much as a former TANF family. Research has shown that nearly 80% of families in the state child support programs have incomes below 250% of poverty. Families should be encouraged, not discouraged, to participate in the child support program. Yet, the $25 annual fee proposal would impose a new surcharge on working poor families who have so far been successful in remaining self-sufficient.
Additionally, the cost to states for implementing this fee will be a greater burden than the income that will be realized. As the $25 fee will count as program income, effectively the state will keep 34% of the $25 fee,($8.50) and the federal government receives the remaining $16.50. The collection of this fee will require states to modify their automated system programming, which may include re-programming for distribution, one of the most complex parts of the state child support automated systems. It would be time consuming and costly to make the changes, without any noticeable benefit. This $8.50 paid to the State would be more than offset by the State's collection costs and start up costs of reprogramming the automated systems to accommodate this fee. Because the federal government shares in these collections and reprogramming costs at the rate of 66 percent federal financial participation, the net benefit to the federal government will also be negligible, if any.