BI2012 - StopTaxingThePoorNew research indicates that child well-being is just as much influenced by the tax code as it is by public spending on children. There is tremendous divergence, however, at the state level between state governments that use their tax code to support low-income families and those that rely on a regressive tax code and push poor families further behind. In recent years, Southwestern states have adopted the historically Southern trend of increasing taxes on low-income families – a trend that poses a serious threat to Southwestern child well-being. O’Brien and Newman outline a set of options these states can take to transform their tax systems from instruments that weaken already vulnerable families into tools for fighting child poverty.

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