Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Report from England on its child support collection efforts, not a passing gradeThe Economist (sub required) The Economist reports that England did not set up a centralized child support collection system until 1993. 30% of its cases resulted in no collections at all last year and almost £ 1 billion has been written off total, £ 9.2 million last year alone. For every £ 1.86 collected administrative costs are £ 1. Report notes that Australia collects $8 for every $1 of admin costs. Cost effectiveness ratios were 3.22 for Nebraska, 4.95 for Missouri, and 5.52 for Iowa for fiscal year 2003. The Economist notes more punitive efforts in America to collect child support including public information efforts to malign "deadbeat dads." A more concrete proposal calls for England's IRS to coordinate with the child support officials to intercept tax refunds.

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