Measuring Poverty

WM Work & Welfare: Measuring Poverty: How the Biden Administration Plans to Redraw the Poverty Line and Rob Resources from Rural America, October 24, 2023

The time has come to end the use of the poverty line entirely. Programs and credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, Supplemental Aid to Needy Families and Temporary Aid to Needy Families keep poverty in place. Repeal them. We can do better. 

I addressed how to do so in May of this year and have attached those comments. Briefly:

• Raise the minimum wage to $12 per hour and adjust it based on the increase in wages at the median wage level by that dollar amount, not by percentage increases.
• Increase the child tax credit to twice what the President has proposed.
• Pay people to become literate at the 10th grade level and to attend an associates degree or technical training program.

Additional reforms will increase retiree income. Because work does not pay enough, 80% do not have adequate retirement savings. Punishing them in retirement for not being paid enough to save is simply cruel. We can fix this, as follows:

• Put a floor on FICA individual contributions, fund the employer contribution with a Fair Tax or value added tax and credit it equally for each worker.
• Adjust Social Security benefits in line with such improvements so that they are at least $500 a month higher across the board.

Attachment: Restoring Work Requirements

Attachment: Tax Reform