Poor Pay Biggest Share of State, Local Taxes

Of the 42 states levying income taxes in 2005, nineteen taxed two-parent families of four living in poverty, and sixteen taxed impoverished single-parent families of three, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), which has tracked state income-tax data since the early 1990s.

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In Alabama, the basic tax exemptions are essentially held over from Depression-era statutes. In 2005, the state culled income taxes from families of four earning as little as $4,600. A single-parent family of three making the minimum wage – that’s under $11,000 per year – paid nearly $220. The state charged four-person families with two parents living at the poverty line, which hovers just below $20,000, about $540.

Angela, a 30-year-old single mother in Auburn County, sees income taxes are just one more hurdle in her struggle to keep her two children, ages 9 and 12, housed and fed.

"It’s just hard from day to day," she said. In her view, the government seems to be discouraging her efforts toward economic self-sufficiency. The more she works –stringing together low-skill, temporary jobs paying as little as $6.10 an hour – the less she receives in food-stamps assistance, and the closer she moves toward the income threshold at which the government saps her earnings.

"It’s just kinda messed up," she said. "If you go out and get a job, you’re still hurting yourself, ’cause now, I gotta worry about feeding my family out of my pocket."

tags: poverty  wealth  inequality  taxes