[Between the Lines]

Estimates of State and Local Taxpayer Costs of Family Fragmentation
(in millions)

1. California $4,829
2. NewYork $3,668
3. Texas $2,957
4. Ohio $2,739
5. Pennsylvania $2,315
6. Florida $1,953
7. Illinois $1,949
8. Michigan $1,562
9. Georgia $1,460
10. North Carolina $1,329
11. New Jersey $1,003
12. Massachusetts $945
13. Indiana $839
14. Virginia $776
15. Tennessee $757
16. Wisconsin $737
17. Maryland $724
18. Connecticut $712
19. Washington $711
20. Louisiana $670
21. Missouri $664
22. Arizona $654
23. Kentucky $654
24. Mississippi $605
25. Minnesota $574
26. Alabama $548
27. Arkansas $471
28. South Carolina $469
29. Colorado $454
30. Oklahoma $430
31. Kansas $389
32. Oregon $361
33. Iowa $359
34. Utah $276
35. West Virginia $231
36. New Mexico $230
37. Maine $214
38. Rhode Island $206
39. Nevada $199
40. District of Columbia $162
41. Nebraska $142
41. Idaho $127
43. Alaska $114
44. Montana $113
45. Hawaii $112
46. New Hampshire $99
47. Delaware $88
48. South Dakota $77
49. Vermont $74
50. North Dakota $69
51. Wyoming $61

[sickoflibs]

I do believe the general point, no fault marriage was a disaster for families with kids, but what he is claiming is hard to prove, I mean single Mom’s are the current middle class trend and even GW Bush called them heros.

[11th Commandment]

You gotta love Kemp's comments that this report is not a political statement, but then proceeds to state how many teachers Washington State could hire for the cost of broken families.

But this report begs the Walter Williams question: Is your/the problem with broken families or is it with Socialism?

[TruthConquers]

No fault divorce is just so good for society!

/s

[Migraine]

broken families are costing taxpayers over $112 billion every year

And the monetary cost is nothing compared to the forever forfeiting of any future normal, tension-free weddings and funerals.

[Flavius]

and they tell me its free love

[metesky]

He says, "In Washington state, it's $711 million. We could hire 15,000 teachers every year in our state at that cost. It's a tax bill of $313 per household."

You just have to love Jack "I'm not a liberal!" Kemp, eh? Don't give the taxpayers back their money, hire more educrats instead.

[appeal2]

Problem with this article is that it assumes that people having the kids bothered to get married in the first place. We need a study about the cost of bastardom. The cost of unwed mothers to society is many times the cost of divorce, the cost of drug and alchohol and tobacco abuse and probably even more than the cost of shoplifting, much of which is caused by this problem.

[mad_as_he$$]

How much does marriage cost taxpayers? The visits from the cops, hospital bills, damage to public property because of marriage induced drunk driving etc.