The Cost of “No New Taxes,” Part 3: More Poor Kids

Just landed in Memphis. The trip wasn’t as long this time — Minnesota is closer to Tennessee these days.

Our child poverty rate is growing, according to a damn good Warren Wolfe story today in the StarTribune.

We’re still number 2 overall in the country on kids’ well-being, but we’re dropping in some frightening categories. Between 35,000 and 40,000 kids fell into poverty in Minnesota between 2000 and 2007. That many more could fall this year, according to the report — The Kids Count, by the Annie E. Casey Foundation of Baltimore.

The recession is partly to blame. More immigrants moving to Minnesota accounts for some of the increase, as immigrants often are poor when they arrive and it may take years for them to achieve a decent income. More one-parent and no-parent families account for some of the increase.

And so do cuts in government programs such as child-care assistance, according to the Children’s Defense Fund Minnesota. Kara Arzamendia of the Fund points out that Minnesota’s future economy depends on growing healthy, well-educated kids today.

The worst states for kids are in the South, not surprisingly. You get what you pay for. Reagan, Bush, Pawlenty –how’s that No New Taxes thing working out for our kids, for our futures?

— Bruce Benidt