War on Poverty Wages War on Marriage The wide range of welfare programs implemented to wage the War on Poverty has had the unintended effect of sharply reducing the marriage rate in America. The reason: Welfare benefits are largely based on family income, and raising that income by marrying a working spouse can significantly reduce or even eliminate those benefits. When the War on Poverty began in 1964, there was only one program that provided aid to single parents — Aid to Families with Dependent Children. At that time, out-of-wedlock births comprised just 6 percent of all births — and of course out-of-wedlock birth rates directly correlate with marriage rates, which hit a high of 72.2 percent in 1960. Today, the federal government runs more than 80 means-tested welfare programs that provide cash, food, housing, medical care, and more to low-income families, reports The Daily Signal, a news outlet of the Heritage Foundation. These include food stamps, child nutrition programs, Medicaid, the Earned Income Tax Credit, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Security Income, public housing and Section 8 housing. By far, most of the benefits to families with children go to single-parent households, mainly families headed by a single woman. The out-of-wedlock birth rate last year stood at 40.6 percent, and the marriage rate was around 50 percent. Welfare promotes single parenthood in two ways. First, it reduces the financial need for marriage. Since the beginning of the War on Poverty, less-educated mothers have increasingly become married to the welfare state and to the U.S. taxpayer rather than to the fathers of their children, The Daily Signal observes. Second, means-tested welfare programs penalize low-income parents who do marry. If a low-income mother weds an employed father, her benefits will in most cases be substantially reduced. She can maximize her benefits by remaining unwed and keeping the fathers income off the books. Daily Signal author Robert Rector offers the example of a single mother who earns $20,000 per year. If she marries a man earning $20,000, the couple will lose about $12,000 a year in benefits. In effect, the welfare system makes it economically irrational for most low-income couples to marry, Rector concludes. The anti-marriage incentives built into the welfare state are indefensible.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 00:53:16 +0000
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