Feeling the sunshine tax squeeze

According to the federal government, 13.8 percent of San Diego County residents are living in poverty. But according to a study released today (January 31) by the Center on Policy Initiatives, that federal figure is too optimistic. Actually, one-third of people in the county (one million persons in 269,000 households) have incomes too low to meet their expenses.

The federal poverty rate doesn't take into account a critical factor: the high cost of living in the county. It's one of the highest in the United States, but incomes are only moderately higher. San Diegans are squeezed by what's called the sunshine tax.

The Center for Policy Initiatives applied the Self-Sufficiency Standard, developed by Dr. Diana Pearce at the University of Washington. This standard takes such costs as housing, transportation, child care, food, and taxes into account. Even a single adult with no children must earn almost $28,000 a year to get by without public or private assistance, says the Center on Policy Initiatives. That requires an hourly wage of $13.23. Private assistance includes living with parents, going to soup kitchens, free child care, etc.

A single adult with a preschooler and school-age child needs a whopping hourly wage of $31.32 to make do, assuming no public or private assistance, according to the study.

The yearly income needed to support two adults, one preschooler, and two school-age chlldren is $97,058.

San Diego County women are especially hard-hit: they earn 74 cents for every dollar paid to men. Among households headed by single mothers, 69 percent have incomes below the bare-bones Self-Sufficiency Standard.