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Sponsor proposes FICA adjustment to child‑support worksheet; legal aid warns of 'double‑dipping'
Summary
HB1225 would add Social Security and Medicare (FICA) deductions to the child‑support calculator for employee obligors. Sponsor says the change makes calculations fairer; New Hampshire Legal Assistance cautioned it could reduce custodial parents’ support unless the baseline formula is changed.
Representative Markeel told the committee HB1225 would adjust the Bureau of Child Support Services worksheet to account for Social Security and Medicare (FICA) withholding so that employee obligors’ pay‑withheld payroll taxes reduce their gross for support calculations. He presented a real‑case example that shifted a computed monthly support obligation by roughly 3.8 percent.
Mary Krueger of New Hampshire Legal Assistance urged caution: she said the statewide calculator first combines both parents’ incomes and applies federal tax, Social Security and Medicare assumptions, and that adding an up‑front deduction for pay‑withheld FICA could create a second reduction — effectively lowering the support amount received by custodial parents unless the formula itself is restructured.
Committee members pressed for modeling of the fiscal impact on low‑income households and asked whether the change would disproportionately affect certain workers (employees vs. self‑employed). The sponsor agreed some drafting clarifications and technical fixes would be necessary.
