Poverty Summit will reduce poverty and maximize economic opportunities for all
One medical emergency, one car accident, one missed paycheck, or one layoff notice and a working class family can descend into poverty.
Because of this reality, I would like to personally invite you to join Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm, Martin Luther King III and me at the Voices for Action Network 2008 Poverty Summit on Thursday, November 13 at the Cobo Center in Detroit. The summit will address reducing poverty and maximizing economic opportunities for all.
No state has been hit harder by the national economic crisis than Michigan. We have lost hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs. Our communities are dotted by thousands of foreclosed homes. And too many of our fellow citizens face the daily challenge of how they will support themselves and their families.
Twenty percent of people living in Michigan, including 500,000 children, are living in or near poverty. That’s one out every five people and half a million children. Children living in poverty complete less schooling, earn less as adults, have poor health, face more criminal charges and are more likely to become a teen parent.
The Michigan Department of Human Services, the Governor’s Commission on Community Action and Economic Opportunity, and the Michigan Community Action Agency Association (Voices for Action Network) are sponsoring the Poverty Summit.
The Poverty Summit embraces Governor Granholm’s 2008 State of the State priorities of a job for every worker, education for every child, training for every citizen, health care for every family and safe places to live and work for all of us. This Summit is not just a one-day event, but also a kickoff for a statewide initiative to reduce poverty and maximize economic opportunities by addressing the issues of health, employment, education, corrections/public safety, child welfare, race and poverty, aging/seniors and vibrant communities.
For more information or to register for the Poverty Summit, please visit www.michigan.gov/poverty.
Ismael Ahmed is the director of the Michigan Department of Human Services.
Social Security Announces 5.8 Percent Benefit Increase for 2009
Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for more than 55 million Americans will increase 5.8 percent in 2009, the Social Security Administration announced today. The 5.8 percent increase is the largest since 1982.
Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits increase automatically each year based on the rise in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), from the third quarter of the prior year to the corresponding period of the current year. This year’s increase in the CPI-W was 5.8 percent.
The 5.8 percent Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits that over 50 million Social Security beneficiaries receive in January 2009. Increased payments to more than 7 million Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries will begin on December 31. Some other changes that take effect in January of each year are based on the increase in average wages. Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $106,800 from $102,000. Of the estimated 164 million workers who will pay Social Security taxes in 2009, about 11 million will pay higher taxes as a result of the increase in the taxable maximum.
Information about Medicare changes for 2009 can be found at www.Medicare.gov.
Michigan tax policy slams the poor, report finds
State status should improve with new tax credit
In 2007, Michigan was one of only 10 states that taxed working families living in deep poverty, a new report released today concludes.
The report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington D.C.-based policy group, named Michigan as one of the worst states for taxing those at the low end of the income ladder.
It is one of nine states to tax a two-parent family of four earning less than three-quarters of the poverty line ($15,902), and one of just six to tax a single-parent family with two children earning less than three-quarters of the poverty line ($12,398).
The picture should brighten, however, when Michigan families pay their 2008 taxes early next year. For the first time, they’ll be able to claim the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which was signed into law in 2006.
“There’s a silver lining in this report,’’ said Sharon Parks, president and CEO of the Michigan League for Human Services. “Our status as a state that overtaxes the poor should improve in future years because of the Earned Income Tax Credit. This reinforces the need for the tax credit — and the need to make sure it stays in place as we face another tough year and lawmakers look for ways to cut the budget. We will be anxious to see next year’s ranking.’’
The state EITC is a policy that rewards work and helps low-income workers with a refundable tax credit, allowing them to keep more of what they earn. The state EITC is 10 percent of the existing federal Earned Income Tax Credit in 2008. It rises to 20 percent in 2009 and beyond.
Among the examples cited in the report, which covers the 2007 tax year, are the following:
• A single-parent family of three in Michigan living at the poverty line of $16,530, paid $206 in income taxes; only Hawaii and Alabama were higher out of the 42 states that levy income taxes;
• A two-parent family of four in Michigan living at the poverty line of $21,203 paid $257 in income taxes; only four states were higher;
• Michigan levied an income tax of $131 for a single-parent family of three working a full-time minimum-wage job. Only Hawaii levied a higher tax on family earning the minimum wage.
Legislation introduced earlier this year sought to freeze the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit because of a shortfall in state revenues. The League and other groups opposed a freeze on the credit.
“We’ve seen tax cut after tax cut after tax cut given to businesses. It would be unconscionable to freeze the one tax credit that is there to help low-income families at a time when they need it so desperately,” Parks said.
Parks called for an expansion of the state EITC to 25 percent of the value of the federal EITC. She said the report makes it clear that along with the EITC, other tax policies aimed at injecting fairness into the state tax structure must be enacted.
“We think it’s time for the state to modernize its tax structure and look at a graduated income tax that will help working families and keep needed public services running,’’ she said.
Michigan is one of just seven states with a flat income tax, meaning taxpayers pay the same rate no matter what their income.
The report, The Impact of State Income Taxes on Low-Income Families in 2007, can be found at www.cbpp.org .
State voters set record for turnout
While results are unofficial, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land turnout estimate of over 5 million voters – a Michigan record – appears on target.
With roughly 5.1 million voters visiting more than 5,000 precincts statewide, minor issues were bound to surface, Land said. For example, ballot tabulators had to be emptied frequently due to the huge turnout.
A turnout of 5.1 million voters represents 68 percent of Michigan’s 7.4 million registered voters. Turnout figures will remain unofficial until certified by the Board of State Canvassers, which will meet no later than Nov. 24.
In the 2004 presidential election, nearly 7.2 million residents were registered to vote and over 4.8 million, or 67.5 percent, cast ballots. The highest voter-turnout percentage was in 1960, when nearly 73 percent of the state’s 3.4 million registered voters cast ballots.
A list of turnout by county will be updated on the Department of State Web site at www.Michigan.gov/sos. Click on the “Elections in Michigan” bar.
