HB 933, a bill introduced on January 8 in Virginia’s House of Delegates, would increase the state’s child-support schedule. It would further increase child-support obligations that are already excessive for many non-custodial parents. The “bill is a recommendation of the Child Support Guidelines Review Panel,” whose proposed child-support increase ignores basic economic realities and overestimates the cost of raising children. I elaborate on that here:

http://www.openmarket.org/2014/01/08/virginia-bill-hb-933-would-increase-excessive-child-support-obligations-by-ignoring-economic-realities/

The methods used to come up with the increased child support schedule were flawed, such as double-counting expenses and making non-custodial parents pay custodial parents for costs that custodial parents have indirectly been reimbursed for by federal and state tax codes.

The bill would force some low-income parents to pay what they cannot possibly pay, and substantially increase high-income parents’ obligations based on a misreading of Virginia child-support history and a likely failure to consider tax increases recently imposed on upper-income households.

Note: I am married, not divorced, and neither a non-custodial nor a custodial parent.