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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. W. Curtis Thomas |
  
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Thomas: Fee should not be assessed on child support recipients
HARRISBURG, May 15 – State Rep. W. Curtis Thomas, D-Phila., continues to seek an alternative to collecting a federally mandated annual $25 fee from Pennsylvania parents who receive $2,000 or more in child support per year.
"I am troubled by the efforts to assess this fee on single parents -- many of them already struggle to make ends meet," Thomas said. "We have to look at our options and find another way to pay the fee."
The federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 requires each state's office of child support enforcement to collect a $25 annual fee from families who have never received Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and have received at least $500 in child support during the current fiscal year. The federal law set a deadline of March 31, 2008, for states to make the change, and Pennsylvania risked more than $700 million in federal funding if the state failed to comply.
A state Senate bill, which became law this week, will have Pennsylvania pay the fee for parents who receive at least $500 but less than $2,000 per year in child support.
Each state has several options for collecting the federally mandated fee. States can pay the fee themselves rather than pass it on to individual clients, bill the non-custodial parent, bill the custodial parent or withhold the fee from child support checks.
Thomas earlier voted against a measure in the House that would have imposed the fee on recipients, and was troubled to see a similar version come out of the Senate. He had an excused absence during the House vote on the Senate bill.
Thomas said he is pleased that the new Pennsylvania law does not assess the fee on TANF recipients, child support recipients receiving less than $2,000 per year or custodial parents who have an order in place to receive support but are not currently receiving it. However, he said he would still like to see movement from domestic relations agencies and the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare to find a better solution for collecting the fee.
Thomas supports collecting the $25 fee from non-custodial parents.
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