The Institute for American Values and the Georgia Family Council have just released a sobering study titled “The Taxpayer Cost of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing.” The study notes that while the debate on marriage usually focuses on its social, moral, and religious qualities, marriage is also an “economic institution.” It is a “powerful creator of human and social capital.” |
| Between 1970 and 2005, the percentage of children being raised in two-parent families dropped from 85 to 68 percent. |
The principal causes of this drop were the high divorce rate and the increase in the number of out-of-wedlock births. While the number of divorces has declined slightly in recent years, the percentage of children born to unmarried mothers has continued to grow. |
| “Divorce and unwed childbearing create substantial public costs, paid by taxpayers.” |
| How much? A minimum of $112 billion a year. |
| in “increased taxpayer expenditures for antipoverty, criminal justice . . . education programs,” and lost tax revenues. |
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