Income Shares

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An Income Shares formula is used by many states to establish the child support amount of each child rather than what it actually costs to raise a child. Income Shares tables calculating child support are not based directly on actual spending on children but rather on indirect estimates of child costs. Income Shares assumes that child costs reflect the spending necessary to restore a family's standard of living back to what it was before prior to the divorce or having a child. This technique was first developed in the 1800s to answer economic questions among different family types, but was never intended the measure the cost of rearing children.