Sacramento Bee: California's poverty rate jumps to 15.3 percent

[marmar]

California's poverty rate rose in 2009 for the third straight year to 15.3 percent, according to a new Census Bureau report issued Thursday, although it's still well below the state's modern poverty high point of 18-plus percent in 1992, during last major recession.

The state's rate is one percentage point above the national poverty rate but roughly in line with the rate in Western states as a whole. It's also nearly three percentage points higher than it was in 2007.

"This is proof of just how hard the recession has hit Californians, and low-income Californians in particular," said Jean Ross, executive director of the liberal California Budget Project. "It's critical that we make smart policy choices to get the economy working for all of us."

Ross said the new poverty data indicate that as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators negotiate on a long-delayed state budget, they should maintain programs that help the poor. "Policymakers should work to minimize spending cuts that economists tell us would exacerbate the downturn," said Ross. "And they should carefully target revenue increases - an important part of a balanced budget solution - to high-income earners, who fared well over the past decade."

By all accounts, that's a major sticking point in the budget negotiations. Schwarzenegger, backed by Republican legislators, is refusing to raise taxes, saying it would retard recovery from recession, while Democratic lawmakers have proposed several billion dollars in new taxes to save health, welfare and education programs from big cuts. The state's deficit has been estimated at $20 billion and climbing.

The state-by-state Census Bureau comparison of poverty rates can be found here while the California Budget Project's analysis and its historic poverty charts are available here and here.


http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2010/09/californias-poverty-rate-jumps.html#ixzz0zjsdmzvQ