Nbadan
07-22-2006, 05:11 AM
Study Documents ‘Ghetto Tax’ Being Paid by the Urban Poor
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: July 19, 2006
WASHINGTON, July 18 — Drivers from low-income neighborhoods of New York, Hartford and Baltimore, insuring identical cars and with the same driving records as those from middle-class neighborhoods, paid $400 more on average for a year’s insurance.
The poor are also the main customers for appliances and furniture at “rent to own” stores, where payments are stretched out at very high interest rates; in Wisconsin, a $200 television can end up costing $700.
Those were just two examples among several cited in a report Tuesday showing that poor urban residents frequently pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year in extra costs for everyday necessities. The study said some of the disparities were due to real differences in the cost of doing business in poor areas, some to predatory financial practices and some to consumer ignorance.
The study, from the Brookings Institution, said finding ways to eliminate these added costs, often called a “ghetto tax,” could be an important new front in the fight against poverty.
At a meeting connected with the report’s release, officials from three states — New York, Pennsylvania and Washington — said they were already doing just that through a variety of programs to draw banks to poor neighborhoods, help finance the construction of supermarkets and encourage innovative insurance schemes.
NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/us/19poor.html)
People may make independent choices that keep them poor, but statistically speaking, people in the lowest economic quintile have the fewest resources to move up regardless of the choices they make. I known bottom-quintile people who did well enough in school to get scholarships, but they couldn't find a way to move to the schools that offered them the scholarship (because, of course, it takes money to move, which many people don't have). In the bottom and upper quintile, it is very unlikely that people will move out of either one, regardless of the choices they make. It's those middle three quintiles where there is more mobility. It is extremely rare, for example, that someone would begin in the bottom quintile and through their own efforts move up to the two highest quintile.
Lucky, San Antonio has HEB grocery stores that keep grocery costs fairly evenly distributed around the city. One tax you could add in SA though is the 'ticket tax' - depending on your ride, your much likely to get pulled over in poor areas in SA than in areas like Stone Oak. Ok, I'll say it, San Antonio streets roll up at 11:00 on the weekdays, especially on the west, east and south side.
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: July 19, 2006
WASHINGTON, July 18 — Drivers from low-income neighborhoods of New York, Hartford and Baltimore, insuring identical cars and with the same driving records as those from middle-class neighborhoods, paid $400 more on average for a year’s insurance.
The poor are also the main customers for appliances and furniture at “rent to own” stores, where payments are stretched out at very high interest rates; in Wisconsin, a $200 television can end up costing $700.
Those were just two examples among several cited in a report Tuesday showing that poor urban residents frequently pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year in extra costs for everyday necessities. The study said some of the disparities were due to real differences in the cost of doing business in poor areas, some to predatory financial practices and some to consumer ignorance.
The study, from the Brookings Institution, said finding ways to eliminate these added costs, often called a “ghetto tax,” could be an important new front in the fight against poverty.
At a meeting connected with the report’s release, officials from three states — New York, Pennsylvania and Washington — said they were already doing just that through a variety of programs to draw banks to poor neighborhoods, help finance the construction of supermarkets and encourage innovative insurance schemes.
NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/us/19poor.html)
People may make independent choices that keep them poor, but statistically speaking, people in the lowest economic quintile have the fewest resources to move up regardless of the choices they make. I known bottom-quintile people who did well enough in school to get scholarships, but they couldn't find a way to move to the schools that offered them the scholarship (because, of course, it takes money to move, which many people don't have). In the bottom and upper quintile, it is very unlikely that people will move out of either one, regardless of the choices they make. It's those middle three quintiles where there is more mobility. It is extremely rare, for example, that someone would begin in the bottom quintile and through their own efforts move up to the two highest quintile.
Lucky, San Antonio has HEB grocery stores that keep grocery costs fairly evenly distributed around the city. One tax you could add in SA though is the 'ticket tax' - depending on your ride, your much likely to get pulled over in poor areas in SA than in areas like Stone Oak. Ok, I'll say it, San Antonio streets roll up at 11:00 on the weekdays, especially on the west, east and south side.