Maybe They DID Mean to Break-Up the Nuclear Family
…but you had to read the bill to find out.
Why Divorce Attorneys Will Love Obamacare
Someone in the White House thinks marriage is a bad idea.
Earlier this year, TFT showed that a high-earning couple, each with incomes of $400,000, would save about $27,000 annually if they divorced and filed their taxes separately. Now we learn that the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, is dangling a similar fate in front of middle income earners.
A typical 40-year old couple with two kids could save $7,230 a year by divorcing if one partner earns, say, $70,000 and the other $23,000. Sixty year-olds earning $62,041 each a year would save $11,028 annually if they broke up.
…Let’s look at the situation of a 40-year-old couple with two children. The spouses’ annual earnings are $70,000 and $23,000, respectively:
The couple’s annual unsubsidized premium while married is $11,547 (“tax credits” disappear at $92,401 for married couples with two children). But if they divorce and shack up while giving custody of both children to the lower-earning spouse, their combined annual premiums, at $4,317, will be more than $7,200 lower. That’s over $600 a month. As was the case in the previous example, the savings from divorce will gradually increase every year. Those parents will be torn between doing what Western civilization has considered morally right for millennia and their children’s financial well-being.
(There may be contrary examples, but Blumer was unable to find a single instance where staying married led to a lower net health care premium compared to divorcing and living together.)
Clearly, many couples who are considering marriage, especially after several years of seeing formerly married couples regress to cohabiting, will look at Obamacare’s “wedding tax” and say, “Never mind.” The effect on society will be incalculable, and certainly not for the good.
Nanny State, People, Politics | tree hugging sister | 
November 13, 2013 10:31 am
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Oh, but that’s nothing new at all. The US gov’t has been discouraging “couples earning” forever. Just google IRS marriage (google will fill in “penalty” for you…).
I don’t know, but I think that sort of policy stems from back in the day when they wanted to get Rosie the Riveter back OUT of the work force.