Liberal California fails at fighting poverty, conservative Texas succeedsLiberal California and conservative Texas are different in many ways – including their poverty rates.
California’s poverty rate is 20.4 percent and the Texas rate is only 14.7 percent, based on the Supplemental Poverty Measure, which accounts for the regional cost of living, out-of-pocket medical expenses and other items.
Why the dramatic difference in poverty between California and Texas – proportionately 38.8 percent higher in the Golden State, and affecting the lives of millions of people? And what can we as a nation learn from the success of Texas and the failure of California to hold down their poverty rates?
Three big factors are responsible for California having more poor people and Texas having fewer as a portion of their state populations:
California has high state and local tax rates, while the rates in Texas are low.
California has a generous welfare system that acts as a disincentive to work, while Texas incentivizes people to get jobs.
And California’s many burdensome regulations raise the cost of living and act as roadblocks to development, while inflating housing costs. So a family needs to have a higher income to get out of poverty in California than it needs in Texas.
California has the nation’s highest marginal state income tax rate – 13.3 percent. Texas is one of seven states without a state income tax. A ranking of all state and local taxes for median income households in every state shows that California ranks No. 8, while Texas comes in at No. 30 on the list.
The higher taxes are, the less money families have. And higher taxes mean employers have less money to hire new workers and raise the salaries of workers already on their payrolls.
California has a generous and costly safety net that discourages work, while raising state spending and the need for high taxes........
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/09/21/liberal-california-fails-at-fighting-poverty-conservative-texas-succeeds.html
