Study: Deployment does NOT increase divorce | The Marriage Penalty Tax - 4/16/07

[Smartmarriages]

- STUDY SHOWS DEPLOYMENT HAS NOT INCREASED DIVORCE RATE
- "HOW TO AVOID MARRYING A JERK" AND "MARRIAGE LINKS" IN DENVER
- MARRIAGE PENALTY TAX

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- STUDY SHOWS DEPLOYMENT HAS NOT INCREASED DIVORCE RATE

Study belies beliefs about military marriages
The Rand Corp. reports that the war has NOT increased the divorce rate, and
that deployments may even strengthen couples.
Los Angeles Times 
By Tony Perry, Times Staff Writer
April 15, 2007

> "The conventional wisdom about how deployments affect military marriages turns
> out to be wrong," the Rand study concluded.

> The study recommends an expansion of family-support programs, including an
> effort begun by the Army to counsel young soldiers and their partners before
> they consider marriage. The Army calls it the Premarital Interpersonal Choices
> and Knowledge program. Troops call it the "How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk"
> program.

A drumbeat of news stories has warned that military marriages are being
stressed to the breaking point by repeated deployments to Iraq and
Afghanistan.

But a study by the Rand Corp think tank has found that the divorce rate
among military families is no higher than a decade ago.

The study also found numbers that suggested that war-zone deployments could
actually strengthen marriages by providing extra money ‹ in the form of
combat pay and tax breaks ‹ and giving the deployed spouse a sense of job
satisfaction.

The yearlong study, "Families Under Stress: An Assessment of Data, Theory
and Research on Marriage and Divorce in the Military," was commissioned by
the Department of Defense and conducted by the Santa Monica-based think
tank. It was released Thursday.

In 1996, 3% of marriages among male enlisted personnel and 1.4% among male
officers ended in divorce. By 2000, the figures were 2.7% and 1.2%. In 2005,
the figures were 2.8% and 1.5%. Differences among branches of the
active-duty military were small.

Kristin Henderson, author of the 2006 book "While They're At War: The True
Story of American Families on the Homefront," said the Rand conclusions
might reflect the success of the family-support programs that the military
had begun. But she said that the study was only a snapshot and that other
studies would be needed to get a fuller picture.

"It's a double-edged thing: Each deployment piles stress upon stress," said
Henderson, a journalist married to a Navy chaplain. "But at the same time,
you're learning coping skills."

The study recommends an expansion of family-support programs, including an
effort begun by the Army to counsel young soldiers and their partners before
they consider marriage. The Army calls it the Premarital Interpersonal
Choices and Knowledge program. Troops call it the "How to Avoid Marrying a
Jerk" program.

Divorce statistics, researchers noted, are not the only measure of the
stress on military families from repeated overseas deployments and the daily
fear that a loved one has been killed.

Lead researcher Benjamin Karney said his study, for example, did not examine
how deployments affected children or influenced alcohol and drug use by
troops or spouses. "The full impact of these conflicts on military families
may not be known for years," he said.

Divorce and war have long been linked in the public mind. Yet two studies
found that the divorce rate among Vietnam veterans was no higher than that
of nonveterans of the same age, the Rand study said.

"The conventional wisdom about how deployments affect military marriages
turns out to be wrong," the Rand study concluded.

The study found little difference between divorce rates of Army and Marine
Corps members who had deployed and those who had not. In fact, some figures
showed that the longer the deployment, the smaller the chance a soldier or
Marine had of getting divorced compared with nondeployed troops.

"Although some may find these results counterintuitive, in fact they are
consistent with other recent findings that document the benefits of
deployment Š for military families," the study concluded.

The study also found no rise in first marriages among troops since the start
of the Afghanistan-Iraq deployment cycle, suggesting that the cliche about
young troops marrying their sweethearts just days before going to war was
overdrawn.

Henderson said she was concerned that the military would shift money and
effort away from family-support programs to deal with such worsening
problems as brain injuries and post-traumatic stress among returning troops.

"We need a holistic approach," said Henderson, whose husband has deployed
with the Marines.

The Rand researchers also confirmed what the military had long known: The
highest rate of divorce is among female military members in the enlisted
ranks. The rate is more than double that of their male counterparts in the
service.

One theory is that men are ill-equipped in American society to play the role
of stay-behind spouse. Support programs "may be tailored specifically to
wives and their concerns" but offer little for husbands whose wives are in
Iraq or Afghanistan, the study said.

- HOW TO AVOID MARRYING A JERK AND MARRIAGE LINKS IN DENVER

We'll open the conference on Thurs night with a look at what we can learn
from the Army's intensive efforts to "super glue" couples before and after
deployment. 

> Thursday, June 28, 6:30
> Strong Bonds: Hearts United
> Lessons From the Front
> Chaplain Peter Frederich, MDiv
> John Van Epp, PhD
> War places extraordinary stress on the bonds of marriage
> and on those that work with military couples.  What are the
> lessons learned in the compressed, intense crucible of war -
> in the brief and precious moments of pre and post deployment - that
> can help all couples everywhere value, cherish, commit, connect,
> maintain, support, and love - with all their hearts.

> 406 - Sat, June 30
> How To Avoid Marrying A Jerk ­ TOOB workshop -
> http://www.smartmarriages.com/toobs.html
> John Van Epp, PhD
> Great marriages begin long before the wedding. Learn what singles (and
> parents) should know about the 5 keys to successful mate-selection, and how to
> avoid the "love is blind" attachment-syndrome. Singles, or single again.

Spend the day training with John Van Epp:
> 914 One Day - Monday, July 2
> Marriage LINKS
> John Van Epp, PhD
> With the LINKS (Lasting Intimacy through Nurturance, Knowledge and Skills)
> learn to teach the Relationship Attachment Model (RAM) for marital maintenance
> of intimacy, trust, sexual satisfaction, forgiveness and mutuality. Techniques
> and tools for teaching groups in churches, schools & on bases.  $50 spouse
> discount. Click for more information: http://www.smartmarriages.com/Links.html

Register on-line at: http://gotomylist.com/cme/smc05/smc07rf2.cfm

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- MARRIAGE PENALTY TAX

Marriage penalty to tax more couples
By TOM HERMAN
The Wall Street Journal
April 15, 2007 

> Among those stung by the marriage penalty are couples in which each spouse
> earns roughly the same and who itemize their deductions. In certain cases, the
> penalty can be so large that accountants urge some clients planning to get
> married to consider delaying the ceremony until the following year.

The marriage penalty is far from disappearing despite efforts in Congress to
ease the problem.

Many two-income married couples still are paying more in taxes together than
they would if each had remained single. According to accountants and
congressional staffers, the so-called marriage penalty will ensnare many
more couples this year unless Congress slows the rapid growth of the
alternative minimum tax.

"The marriage penalty is alive and well - and thriving in the AMT," says
John Buckley, chief tax counsel for the Democrats on the House Ways and
Means Committee.

That may surprise some people who thought the marriage penalty was a thing
of the past. After all, Congress did make the standard deduction for joint
filers twice the amount of the standard deduction for singles. It also made
the income ranges subject to the 10 percent and 15 percent tax rates for
joint filers twice those for singles. But while those moves certainly
helped, they didn't eradicate the problem.

Lawmakers have "eliminated the marriage penalty for many married couples and
mitigated it for others - but have not done away with it entirely," says
Roberton Williams, principal research associate at the Tax Policy Center, a
joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution.

The marriage penalty is threatening to stage a major comeback because of the
AMT, which is a separate system for calculating your taxes. The AMT's
origins date back to the late 1960s, when Congress learned that a small
number of upper-income people had managed to avoid paying any federal income
tax through deductions, credits and other items. But Congress hasn't indexed
the AMT for inflation, and it has been hitting growing numbers of people
over the past few years.

Last year, Congress approved a stopgap measure, which expired at the end of
2006. If Congress does nothing, about 25 million people will fall into the
AMT's web for 2007, up sharply from about 4 million for 2006, according to
the Treasury Department's latest estimates.

Among those stung by the marriage penalty are couples in which each spouse
earns roughly the same and who itemize their deductions. In certain cases,
the penalty can be so large that accountants urge some clients planning to
get married to consider delaying the ceremony until the following year. That
allows each taxpayer to file as single for another year - and use the tax
savings to pay for an expensive honeymoon.

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11th Annual Smart Marriages Conference, Denver Adam's Mark Hotel,
June 28-July 1, 2007
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