3 Ways to Lift People Out of Poverty
Poverty is the state of nature where people lack resources to survive. Survival requires hard work to procure food, water, and shelter.
Lifting people out of the state of poverty stems from the respect of property rights and freedom to specialize so that workers can be more productive with their actions.
While poverty around the world has radically decreased thanks to a move toward respecting property rights, more work can be done to help improve living standards for all.
There are three key policies that could radically help eradicate poverty in modern times because they remove direct burdens put onto people. Let’s go over them:
Number 3 – Ending property taxes.
A property tax effectively means that people don’t really own their home.
As home buyers must pay property taxes each year, they are essentially in a state of modern feudalism where they must work for the sake of paying the state or else, they will have their home confiscated.
Low-income seniors and the disabled are especially at risk of tax lien confiscation as their limited means may end up not being enough to cover taxes on their home when their home value increases.
In one such example, an 83-year-old retired engineer in Michigan underpaid his property taxes by $8.41, and the County seized his home, sold it, and pocketed the profits from the sale.
In another, a 76-year-old man named Bennie Coleman was kicked out of his home by U.S. Marshals and had his home taken all because he didn’t pay a $134 property tax bill.
As you can see, property taxes make it so that those of limited and fixed means are in perennial jeopardy of losing their home to state liens.
Number 2 – Ending the minimum wage.
The minimum wage was a historically racist policy meant to keep newly-freed blacks from competing with white workers.
The laws were crafted to keep out black Americans who would work for a lower wage as they expanded their skills and grew their business.
As the minimum wage does not guarantee anyone a job, the only thing the minimum wage does is ensure that anyone who cannot provide value above the minimum wage is unemployed.
Ultimately, minimum wage will guarantee unemployment for a large segment of the population: those with low skills and little experience who otherwise would work for less to gain the skills needed to advance.
Because of this economic fact, the minimum wage is really a barrier to entry for those trying to get out of poverty by working their way up starting with a lower wage.
In order to move up out of poverty, as nearly 98 percent of all employed persons do in making above the minimum wage, the minimum wage must be abolished so that those of more humble means and abilities can take on jobs and gain needed experience for their economic advancement.
Number 1 - Ending the income tax.
The income tax not only makes it more difficult for people to survive because their money is taken, the compliance with income tax laws also has an enormous effect on people’s time and resources.
There are more than 2.4 million words in the U.S. tax code, and Americans will spend over 2.5 billion collective hours trying to comply with IRS tax filing requirements on just their individual income alone.
Total compliance cost for individual and business taxes is over 400 billion dollars, which is greater than the gross product of some 36 U.S. states.
With this in mind, it’s easy to see how the overbearing tax code can leave many people with less time and money, keeping them in a perpetual state of poverty.
Eliminating the IRS and the income tax would be a huge boon to those trying to move up out of poverty, and it would permit many to save and expand their opportunities.
In summary, it’s time to get the government out of people’s homes, wages, and wallets.
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SOURCES
Poverty Decreasing: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/09/percentage-of-people-in-poverty-dropped-fifth-consecutive-year.html
Global poverty rate drops to record low 10%: World Bank
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/19/world-bank-global-poverty-rate-drops-to-record-low.html
Minimum Wage:
The Racist History of Minimum Wage Laws
https://mises.org/wire/racist-history-minimum-wage-laws
Thomas Sowell on the cruelty of minimum wage laws
https://www.aei.org/economics/thomas-sowell-on-the-cruelty-of-minimum-wage-laws/
Characteristics of minimum wage workers, 2018
https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2018/pdf/home.pdf
Property Taxes:
Tax Lien Sales Put Low-Income, Seniors, and the Disabled at Risk of Foreclosure https://www.americanbar.org/groups/law_aging/publications/bifocal/vol_33/issue_1_oct2011/tax_lien_sales_putlow-incomeseniorsandthedisabledatriskofforeclo/
The other foreclosure crisis: Losing a home over $400 in back taxes
https://money.cnn.com/2012/07/10/real_estate/tax-liens/index.htm
A Michigan Man Underpaid His Property Taxes By $8.41. The County Seized His Property, Sold It—and Kept the Profits.
https://reason.com/2019/11/06/a-michigan-man-underpaid-his-property-taxes-by-8-41-the-county-seized-his-property-sold-it-and-kept-the-profits/
LEFT WITH NOTHING.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2013/09/08/left-with-nothing/
Income Tax:
The Compliance Costs of IRS Regulations https://taxfoundation.org/compliance-costs-irs-regulations/