It should also examine financial penalties for marriage in other programs, especially the earned income tax credit, and reduce or eliminate them. Fourth, Congress should implement incentives for marriage. It could, for example, suspend collection of child support arrearges owed the state should the biological parents get married. It also could require states to follow West Virginia's lead and provide a cash bonus to single mothers on welfare who marry the child's biological father. Although controversial, the proposal makes an important point.
Marriage is in trouble, especially in low-income communities.
If we are serious about restoring marriage, public policy will have to do more than simply strive toward marriage neutrality by removing existing financial disincentives for marriage. It needs to show that it values marriage by rewarding those who choose it. Fifth, Congress should fund programs that enhance the marital and parenting skills of high-risk families. Some lack these skills because they grew up in broken homes without positive role models. Others had inadequate or abusive parents themselves.