Should we penalize marriage?

By Tom Quiner

Society has a vested interest in marriage.

The institution was established thousands of years ago as society’s way to protect wives and their children.  To this very day, we see measurable benefits to traditional marriage:

Marriage reduces poverty.  The poverty rated for single mothers with children is five times higher than married women.

The poverty rate for single fathers is two-and-a-half times higher than married men.

Two-thirds of all poor children live in single parent households.

Marriage is the engine for a healthy society.  Government policy should reward marriage, not punish it. Unfortunately, a new study on President Obama’s economic policies reveal that marriage will be penalized more than ever.  The study can be found at Concerned Women for America.  The name of their report is “Obamanomics: A Summary of the Analyses and Commentary Related to the Financial Impact of ObamaCare on Women and Families.”

According to the report, President Obama’s policies will expand the “marriage penalty.”  Here are the highlights:

• Married couples could be paying as much as $10,000 more for being married.
• It will encourage cohabitation and divorce because of increased insurance premiums and fees for being married.
• It will discourage married women from working because of higher tax rates.
• Young married couples and empty nesters will be hit especially hard.
• Financial effects are perpetual and, thus, cumulative.
• ObamaCare increases the magnitude of the disincentives for marriage.
• By encouraging single parenting, the bill will increase poverty.
• It rewards the 70 percent of unmarried women who voted for President Obama in 2008.
• The majority of taxpayer-stimulus jobs went to women, even though men suffered the majority of job losses during the current recession — costing taxpayers trillions of dollars per year.
• Current welfare programs cost almost $1 trillion per year (twice as much as national defense, and nearly the size of the federal deficit).
• ObamaCare is projected to add another $2.5 trillion to the cost of welfare programs.

How do we reduce poverty?  Through traditional marriage.  How can we expand poverty?  By penalizing traditional marriage.  President Obama’s policies pursue the second path according to Concerned Women for America.