First-Time Research Reveals Staggering Annual Taxpayer Costs for Divorce and Unwed Childbearing

Contact: Sheila Weber, Director of Communications, Institute for American Values, 646-322-6853, sheila@americanvalues.org

WASHINGTON, April 15 /Standard Newswire/ -- In first-ever research, a new report quantifies a minimum $112 billion annual taxpayer cost from high rates of divorce and unmarried childbearing. It identifies national, state and local costs which account for more than $1 trillion in the last decade.  This landmark scholarly study, entitled "The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing: First-Ever Estimates for the Nation and All 50 States," was released on April 15th at the National Press Club by four renown policy and research groups--Institute for American Values, Georgia Family Council, Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, and Families Northwest.

"This study documents for the first time, that divorce and unwed childbearing--besides being bad for children--are also costing taxpayers a ton of money," said David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values.  "Even a small improvement in the health of marriage in America would result in enormous savings to taxpayers," he continued. 

"These costs are due to increased taxpayer expenditures for anti-poverty, criminal justice and education programs, and through lower levels of taxes paid by individuals whose adult productivity has been negatively affected by increased childhood poverty caused by family fragmentation," said principal investigator Ben Scafidi, Ph.D., economics professor at Georgia College & State University. "Prior research shows that marriage lifts single mothers out of poverty and therefore reduces the need for costly social benefits."

"This report now provides the basis for a national consensus that strengthening marriage is a legitimate policy concern," said Blankenhorn. "The report's numbers represent an extremely cautious estimate, a lower-bound figure, and have been vetted by a group of distinguished scholars and economists."

"These numbers represent real people and real suffering," said Randy Hicks, president of Georgia Family Council. "Both economic and human costs make family fragmentation a legitimate public concern. Historically, Americans have resisted the impulse to surrender to negative and hurtful trends. We fight problems like racism, poverty and domestic violence because we understand that the stakes are high. And while we'll never eliminate divorce and unwed childbearing entirely, we can certainly be doing more to help marriages and families succeed."   Full report available at www.americanvalues.org