N001438

Friday, January 04, 2002 4:43 PM
911 Victim Compensation Fund of 2001

Dear Mr. Zwick:

Please open the attached word document file for the comments.

Thank you very much for your consideration.
-- A victim family

Individual Comment

Attachment 1:
Mr. Kenneth L. Zwick, Director
Office of Management Programs
U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Division
Main Building, Room 3140
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530

Dear Mr. Zwick:

I am from one of the victims' families. The more I am reading the loss calculation tables, the more I am puzzled.

In order to reach the objectives of the program, i.e. to be fair, predictable and consistent. Please publish all the assumptions that are used, i.e. average expected work life, consumption factors and etc. so that the victim families have a true understanding of the compensation program and will be able to predict their presumed compensation.

Please also explain the logic of the marginal cost of raising a child in your published chart because it is significantly lower than other government survey such as USDA's annual report.

* The following two tables are from your published chart, the first one is for married with one dependent who is a 9 year-old and the second one is for married with two dependents who are infant and a 9 year-old. The difference between the two tables is calculated to be the marginal cost of raising an infant to 18 years old.
married/1 dependent (age 9)
10,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 80,000 100,000
25 673,952 1,226,922 1,520,993 1,833,922 2,103,229 2,360,231 2,654,498 3,132,957
30 626,986 1,098,782 1,348,696 1,614,124 1,843,414 2,062,187 2,311,696 2,718,052
35 546,113 878,128 1,052,005 1,235,638 1,396,020 1,548,962 1,721,399 2,003,595
40 514,642 792,264 936,552 1,088,356 1,221,924 1,349,249 1,491,694 1,725,576
45 500,000 708,033 823,294 943,874 1,051,138 1,153,333 1,266,357 1,452,843
50 500,000 627,165 714,560 805,163 887,173 965,242 1,050,020 1,191,002
55 500,000 544,302 604,111 665,447 722,124 776,023 833,295 929,439
60 500,000 500,000 522,277 563,860 602,284 638,825 677,653 742,834
65 500,000 500,000 500,000 502,101 529,429 555,418 583,033 629,391

married/2 dependent (age 9 and infant)
10,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 80,000 100,000
25 741,554 1,314,621 1,610,618 1,920,345 2,194,988 2,456,664 2,746,651 3,224,818
30 694,588 1,186,481 1,438,321 1,700,548 1,935,173 2,158,621 2,403,849 2,809,912
35 613,714 965,827 1,141,629 1,322,061 1,487,780 1,645,396 1,813,552 2,095,456
40 582,244 879,963 1,026,177 1,174,779 1,313,683 1,445,683 1,583,848 1,817,436
45 547,827 788,109 905,063 1,023,196 1,134,755 1,240,714 1,350,342 1,536,662
50 513,199 696,510 785,269 874,486 959,327 1,039,876 1,122,505 1,263,500
55 500,000 604,733 665,541 726,311 784,578 839,871 896,019 992,284
60 500,000 538,800 580,025 621,224 660,727 698,214 736,279 801,543
65 500,000 500,000 528,037 557,339 585,434 612,095 639,168 685,585

Difference
10,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 80,000 100,000
25 67,602 87,699 89,625 86,423 91,759 96,433 92,153 91,861
30 67,602 87,699 89,625 86,424 91,759 96,434 92,153 91,860
35 67,601 87,699 89,624 86,423 91,760 96,434 92,153 91,861
40 67,602 87,699 89,625 86,423 91,759 96,434 92,154 91,860
45 47,827 80,076 81,769 79,322 83,617 87,381 83,985 83,819
50 13,199 69,345 70,709 69,323 72,154 74,634 72,485 72,498
55 - 60,431 61,430 60,864 62,454 63,848 62,724 62,845
60 - 38,800 57,748 57,364 58,443 59,389 58,626 58,709
65 - - 28,037 55,238 56,005 56,677 56,135 56,194

* US Department of Agriculture publishes a report on Expenditures on Children by Families. In the 2000 annual report published May 2001, the total expenditure for children of the urban Northeast area (consists of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont) is estimated as follows:
Before-tax Income Total Expenditure up to 18 Years Old
Average 0 3 6 9 12 15
Less than 37,800 23,600 128,850 109,140 89,040 68,310 47,160 23,400
37,800 to 63,500 50,200 172,320 145,350 117,750 89,760 61,560 30,990
More than 63,500 95,100 244,410 205,380 165,450 125,580 85,830 43,350

* In the USDA's report, the Expenditure figures represent estimated expenses on the younger child in a two-child family. For example, the expenditure for an infant to 18 year-old for a family earns before-tax income more than 63,500 should be $244,410. Estimates are about the same for the older child, so to calculate expense for two children, figures should be summed for the appropriate age categories.

* In the USDA's report, to estimate expenses for an only child, multiply the total expense for the appropriate age category by 1.24. To estimate expenses for each child in a family with three or more children, multiply the total expense for each appropriate age category by 0.77. For expenses on all children in a family, these totals should be summed.

* Observation: in the DIFFERENCE table derived from your calculation, the largest number is $96,434 for income 70,000, which is only 39% of the estimated expenditure for USDA.

Please be fair to our victims' children!

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