Families in rural South most likely low-wage earners: study
WASHINGTON (AP) — Families in the rural South are more likely to earn low incomes than families in any other part of the nation, according to a study released Tuesday by the Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy.
In rural communities stretching from Maryland to Texas, 30 percent or more of all families claimed the earned income tax credit, which is designed to lift working poor families out of poverty by refunding some federal payroll taxes. The study charted earned income tax credits claimed on 2001 tax returns.
The researchers concluded that the evidence should prompt politicians and policy-makers to reevaluate their assumptions that the working poor are confined to distressed inner-city neighborhoods.
‘I think we’re trying to offer a reality check about where the working poor live,’ said Alan Berube, senior researcher at the Brookings Institution. ‘If you’re under the impression that they live in somebody else’s community, you’re probably wrong.’
The Internal Revenue Service runs a nationwide campaign to publicize the credit and educate families who might qualify. It has neighborhood offices in some places and partners with community organizations in other areas, particularly rural regions.
In the nation as a whole, a higher percentage of families living in urban areas claimed the earned income tax credit, but they were followed very closely by families in rural areas. ‘The most remote rural areas closely resemble large cities in their incidence of working poverty,’ the study concluded.
The total number of working poor families living in rural areas, small towns and suburbs are three times the number who live in large cities.
Working poverty tends to be deeper in the rural South. Families there claim a larger tax credit than other regions. Families in the South were also much more likely to pay a fee to get an immediate loan on an expected refund instead of waiting for the Internal Revenue Service to mail a check.
The earned income tax credit is generally available to families who earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. A full-time, year-round worker with two children could make no more than $15 an hour to be eligible for the credit. Families must have income from work to be eligible.
Between 2000 and 2002, there was an 8 percent increase in earned income tax credit claims. The credit returned more than $36 billion to more than 20 million recipients last year.