The new poverty numbers are in and the news isn’t good: South Carolina is now ranked 10th worst in the country in the percentage of people living below the poverty line.
Now, we’re tied with Alabama.Some 15.7 percent of South Carolinians, including 21.7 percent of the Palmetto State’s children, live in poverty. That means they live in households where income is less than $15,000.
That South Carolina has relatively high poverty compared to other states isn’t news. While last year’s rate was 15.0 percent with a 12th highest ranking, the year before was 15.7 percent with a 12 ranking. Whatever way you look at it, poverty is high. But over the last year, it’s gotten even worse.
“The new poverty figures show that the recession is having a terrible effect on South Carolina,” said John Ruoff of S.C. Fair Share. “And these numbers don’t take into account those families who are hurting with reduced hours, lost jobs by one breadwinner and loss of employer-provided insurance although they have income above the very low official poverty thresholds.
“Nearly one in six of us below the federal poverty level understates the levels of pain in our state.”
More than ever before, it’s clear we have got to do something in South Carolina to attack the draining, life-threatening poverty that holds back our state. To continue to ignore the problem is sinful. Our state legislators need to attack poverty and its associated ills with a new vigor. We need a South Carolina War on Poverty. Again.
Anita Floyd, vice president of community impact at the United Way of the Midlands in Columbia, says decision-makers need to develop long-term solutions to help people. Bandages to fix problems now aren’t much good if the underlying causes aren’t addressed, she said.
“The system is now set up to help people as if they have a very short crisis,” said Floyd, whose agency did in-depth interviews with more than 1,000 people in the Midlands over the last year to better understand what was happening.
The result: People need long-term, sustained help so that they can get out of crisis and then move on, she noted, adding that she wasn’t talking about creating cycles of dependency. She said people they interviewed consistently said they wanted a hand-up so they could help themselves, not a sustained handout.
“You can’t keep them perpetually in crisis and expect them to get out of crisis with just some budget counseling,” Floyd said.
Sue Berkowitz of the S.C. Appleseed Legal Center said she recently got thrown for a loop at an Alabama conference when somebody was talking about South Carolina. “Thank God for Mississippi” used to be what Alabamans said when trying to feel better about their poor conditions. But now, the person told her that people in her state were saying “Thank God for South Carolina.” [Note: Mississippi still has the nation’s highest poverty rate at 21.2 percent.]
“If our legislature is not being responsive and our policymakers are not doing what needs to be done, it’s going to take all of us in South Carolina,” she said.
So what can be done? Here’s a short list:
- Access. Make it easier for people to get the services they need. Only 70 percent of people in poverty get food stamps, Berkowitz noted. More people on the federal-funded aid program would reduce stresses on families.
- Tax fairness. The state could remove exemptions for sales taxes, which would generate money that could be invested wisely in attracting jobs, improving education and providing training for low-skilled workers.
- Minimum wage. Lawmakers could consider a higher state minimum wage, which would allow many low-wage workers to generate enough income to get out of the cycles of stress under which they live.
- Tax credit. South Carolina could enact an earned income tax credit like other states to help the working poor get out of debt.
Bottom line: If lawmakers don’t do something soon, what’s to serve as a lure for any international business that wants to come here? Being among the worst in lots of things certainly isn’t a positive. And moonlight and magnolias isn’t enough.
This column by Andy Brack first appeared at StatehouseReport.com.
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