Poverty

The Cumulative Effect of Taxes and Transfers on Poverty Estimates: 1998 - 1999

(Numbers in thousands)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                                |            1999              |              1998              |       1999-1998 Difference
                                                |______________________________|________________________________|________________________________
Selected income definitions                     |       Number |               |         Number |               |         Number |
                                                |        below |       Poverty |          below |       Poverty |          below |       Poverty
                                                |      poverty |          Rate |        poverty |          Rate |        poverty |          Rate
________________________________________________|______________|_______________|________________|_______________|________________|_______________
                                                |              |               |                |               |                |
                                                |              |               |                |               |                |
Definition 1 (current measure)                  |       32,258 |          11.8 |         34,476 |          12.7 |        *-2,218 |         *-0.9
Definition 2 (definition 1 less government cash |              |               |                |               |                |
         transfers/1)                           |       52,542 |          19.2 |         54,356 |          20.1 |        *-1,814 |         *-0.9
Definition 4 (definition 2 plus capital gains   |              |               |                |               |                |
         and employee health benefits)          |       50,628 |          18.5 |         52,213 |          19.3 |        *-1,585 |         *-0.8
Definition 6 (definition 4 less social security |              |               |                |               |                |
         payroll and federal income taxes/2)    |       53,556 |          19.6 |         55,271 |          20.4 |        *-1,715 |         *-0.8
Definition 7 (definition 6 plus the earned      |              |               |                |               |                |
         income credit (EIC))                   |       49,523 |          18.1 |         51,118 |          18.9 |        *-1,595 |         *-0.8
Definition 8 (definition 7 less state income    |              |               |                |               |                |
         taxes)                                 |       49,954 |          18.3 |         51,431 |          19.0 |        *-1,477 |         *-0.7
Definition 9 (definition 8 plus nonmeans-tested |              |               |                |               |                |
         government cash transfers)             |       31,961 |          11.7 |         33,563 |          12.4 |        *-1,602 |         *-0.7
Definition 11 (definition 9 plus the value of   |              |               |                |               |                |
         Medicare and regular-price school      |              |               |                |               |                |
         lunch)                                 |       30,800 |          11.3 |         32,491 |          12.0 |        *-1,691 |         *-0.7
Definition 14 (definition 12 plus the value of  |              |               |                |               |                |
         Medicaid and other means-tested        |              |               |                |               |                |
         government noncash transfers)          |       24,161 |           8.8 |         25,787 |           9.5 |        *-1,626 |         *-0.7
________________________________________________|______________|_______________|________________|_______________|________________|_______________

Footnotes:

*Statistically significant at the 90 percent confidence level.

1. See Appendix B of the P60-201, Poverty in the United States:1997.
2. This definition refers to social security and federal income tax liabilities before taking into account refundable credits i.e. EIC.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, March 2000.