An Assessment of Senator Romney's Family Security Act: Would it Really Reduce Poverty?

Salvador Ortigueira and Nawid Siassi

No 2021-1, Working Papers from School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University

Abstract: We assess the Family Security Act---a plan presented by Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) on February 4, 2021 to reform the tax/transfer system---in terms of its efficacy to achieve the stated objectives of increasing marriage rates and cutting child poverty at no cost to the government. The assessment is carried out through a microsimulation approach, using a dynamic model of savings, labor supply, household formation, and marital status. We find that while the plan would be highly effective at increasing marriage, it would reduce child poverty at the expense of increasing poverty among single-mother families and child deep poverty. Furthermore, the plan would entail a substantial cost to taxpayers.

Keywords: Family Security Act; household decisions; cohabitation and marriage; poverty. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E21 H24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 10 pages
Date: 2021-05-12
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