Picture from Lowell Allen's SerialPhoto
The Associated Press is reporting "Nearly half of the families with children in the state don't earn enough to pay for basic living expenses, according to a biennial report released Thursday by an advocacy group seeking economic assistance for the poor.
The report by the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center determined that 521,630 families with children, or 49.1 percent of the state, can't make ends meet based on "living income standards."
The living income standards, based on U.S. Census and other figures and developed in part with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, are the earnings levels equal to the true costs of being self-sufficient in urban or rural North Carolina.
The standards are generated by 2003 monthly expense estimates - the most recent available - for housing, child care, food, health care, transportation and taxes..."
Read the rest of the article.
There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America. -William J. Clinton-
2 comments:
Thanks Uptown.
Damn, according to that report I'm not even considered self-sufficient in a rural area.
The article concludes: "Creating more affordable housing, improving education and worker training and shifting the tax burden away from low-income families also could help..."
Creating more affordable housing isn't working in my part of town. What would help would be less taxes on food, fuel and property--i.e. give me a reason to stay in the city. Otherwise, like my neighbors who just moved away, I'll have to find affordable housing elsewhere.
Thanks, Uptown. Timely for me as I've spent most of the morning helping "adoptive" families to gift underprivileged kids at my daughter's elementary school. The reality is sobering and sad.
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