$1.5b owed in child support

BY KELLY BURNS

Almost a third of liable parents are shunning child support obligations, the highest rate in five years.

At June 30, the child support hole totalled $1.5 billion.

Inland Revenue is chasing more than $527 million owed by parents, with more than $1 billion owed in penalties.

Fathers in Manukau and Gisborne and mothers in Invercargill and Dunedin were the worst offenders. A third of all debt is from Kiwi parents living overseas.

Figures issued under the Official Information Act show more than 127, 000 parents have child support obligations but 37,702, or 29.5 per cent, fail to pay. And the debt owed by 547 parents earning six-figure salaries has nearly doubled in three years to $10.9m.

Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said the level of child support debt was unacceptably high. It was of concern that a significant proportion was penalties rather than the principal.

Children's Commissioner John Angus said parents had a moral and legal obligation to pay. Parents were not meeting their responsibilities to their child when they elected not to pay.

"Children can get a message the non-custodial parent doesn't care about them and how they are getting on, because they don't care enough to make a financial contribution for them," Dr Angus said.

A Wanganui father said he paid child support for his 10-year-old son when the boy was living with his mother, but now that the boy was living with him he was getting nothing.

"The entire time my boy has been living with me, I have not received one dollar of child support. I'm not surprised , I think it's easy not to pay. Without trying to sound sexist, I think they chase the fathers a lot more than the mothers."

Mr Dunne said a Government review of the child support system was under way and would assess the actual cost of raising a child, how payments were measured and whether the system was fair, and would propose changes.

A data-matching scheme that began last year between Customs and Inland Revenue was encouraging, he said.

In the scheme's first nine months the department had been notified of 4608 parents with a child support debt, and repayment arrangements totalling $20.1m had been made.

THE BIG DEBT

Total debt $1,542,275,335

Of that, $527,329,012 was assessment debt and $1,014,946,323 was penalties

Average child support debt was $12,707

Of 37,702 parents defaulting, 31,031 were fathers and 6640 mothers. The others' gender was not revealed.

Christchurch parents were most likely to pay child support

Worst for non-payment

48.9 per cent of parents in Australia (3066)

32 per cent in Manukau (8041)

32.5 per cent in Rotorua (1197)

31.8 per cent in Gisborne (636)

* In comparison, 26.2 per cent of Wellington parents (3052)

Fathers who don't pay

In Manukau 34 per cent (6849)

Gisborne 34.2 per cent (527)

Rotorua 33.3 per cent (1566)

Mothers who don't pay

In Invercargill 34.6 per cent (175)

Dunedin 31.2 per cent (220)

New Plymouth 31 per cent (178)

- © Fairfax NZ News