A couple of years ago, the State of Texas (home of the Bush Hooligans, et alia) decided to "help out" the various counties of the State ... and, of course, the children of Texas. They did this by centralizing all child support payments -- removing the processing of those payments from the county where the judgment was entered, and putting all collection and disbursement in the hands of the Secretary of State.
Sounds nice, right? Counties save money, centralized receipt and disbursement of funds should speed things up -- particularly since now the ability to receive those payments at the family level includes direct electronic deposit of funds. (It probably also allows payor or payor's agent to make the payment the same way ... quickly.)
Strange as this may sound, when the county received the check (usually on the last business day of the month), it was forwarded to and received in Ohio by the 5th day of the month 90% of the time. Now that the Secretary of State is in a position to have those funds forwarded to any bank account in the country by the 2nd or 3rd day of the month .... are you ready for this??? ... the payment arrives in that same Ohio bank account on the 10th or 11th or 12th day of the month.
Most landlords can stand to wait for the rent until the 5th of the month, if the payment is always made then. Few landlords want to wait until the 10th, or 11th, or even longer (like this month, when the money isn't in the account).
So who is benefiting from this new improved processing? Bet you've already guessed: The State of Texas. Depending upon when the funds are received, the State of Texas has use of the funds for no less than five (5) days. Most states (I can't say for certain when it comes to Texas, but I'd be shocked if it were not the case) require that all their funds -- even funds held temporarily on the behalf of others -- be kept in interest bearing accounts. True, the rate may be low ... but think of how much money is involved.
The statistics I found are a bit shocking:
Number of children owed child support 1,109,955
Amount of child support owed them $8,936,337,402.00
Collection rate 68%
I can't get more detail, but we can simplify those figures just for the sake of conversation. Let's say that the average number of children in each household due support is three (3). That would mean 369,985 households due child support each month. We'll cut that down even more by saying that only 68% of the households receive those payments -- 251,589 payments that come in. We'll reduce the Eight Billion (using the non-USA proper 1 million million = 1 billion) plus in owed child support to the same 68% -- $607,673,433 rounded to nearest dollar. But that doesn't add up, not really, because that would mean each household received an average of $2,415 monthly ... and we all know that not all fathers who pay support make enough money to pay that amount, even using the 30% of gross income for 3 children standard which Texas has legislated.
Are you starting to see why I can't provide exact figures? It might well be more accurate to simply come up with some "ferinstince figgurs" ... yup?
Low-balling it may have more impact than whatever "facts" we might come up with. Let's simply say that 300,000 households each month receive $600 a month ... $180,000,000. I counted those zeros three times, and that amount is correct: One Hundred Eighty Million
Going with that figure 180,000,000 and give the benefit of the doubt -- that it is held only five days each month -- let's pick an interest rate of 1% and see where it gets the Texas Treasury.
180,000,000 x 0.01 x 5 /365 equals $24,657.53 interest per month. Multiply by 12 to cover all the months of the year and the total minimum income to the State of Texas from withholding prompt payment to the households due child support: $295,890
For that amount of money I'd gladly provide my own computers, my own software, and my own sub-contractors to do the job for Texas! Of course I wouldn't want the job, to be truthful. I've been on the short end of the child support stick, and we can't add up the costs to those families who have to wait that extra five days.
We can't add them up, but we most surely can list a few of the potential consequences:
Homelessness -- the landlord got sick and tired of promises and late payments
Hunger -- even with a roof over your head, you still need to buy food
Anger & Distrust -- mothers (and maybe a few custodial fathers) angry at the system and not believing anything the-powers-that-be might tell them; children growing to hate and blame the custodial parent, sure that one person is responsible for no home, and no food, and no decent clothes, and problems at school, and bullying, teasing, etc.
Higher crime rate -- desperation leads to desperate measures, as does confusion and distrust on the part of the children.
How will it affect Texas? I don't know, but I do know it won't be anything good that comes out of it.
If only we could get the idiots (apologies to those born with limited abilities, as opposed to those who seem to lose all ability once in positions of power) to realize just how much hardship their "great plan" can create. If only they had to live on canned vegetables with a bit of mayo and lettuce (has to be a bit because it's almost all gone) and dry soda crackers, rather than meat and potatoes, hot dogs & beans, fish-that's-not-in-a-can, meals that are actually balanced nutritionally if you eat a bit of each thing provided. In households dependent upon child support, any left-overs are not for the dog; they're for later when the backbone starts rubbing a hole in your stomach.
So what can be done about this type of narrow-minded (mindless) "good thinking"??? If you're reading this, you're seeing what I can do. I don't know what you can do. If you don't like what's going on, tell someone. Blog it, tweet it, write it, e-mail it, call the radio station about it. If you live in Texas, try getting hold of one of your legislooters. Or click to a new page -- it's up to you.
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