Report: Poor Families Pay High Income Taxes In Illinois
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) -- Poor families face higher income taxes in Illinois than in all but a handful of other states, according to a new report.
As WBBM Newsradio's Bob Conway reports, that was true even before a state income tax increase this year.
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The study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ranked Illinois seventh highest in taxes for a two-parent family of four at the poverty line, which is an annual income of $22,314 for a family of that size.
In Illinois, that family would have owed the state $187 in income taxes last year. That is far less than Alabama, where the family would have owed $498, but still, Illinois is one of only eight states where working poor families pay more than $150.
Illinois ranked sixth in taxes owed by a single parent raising three children on poverty-level wages. That family would have had a bill of $99 last year, out of an income of $17,374.
Illinois is also one of only five states that levies an income tax on families in severe poverty, or making less than 75 percent of the poverty line -- $16,376 in real dollars.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, 17 states don't tax poor families, and offer tax credits that give refunds to families of three or four at the poverty line.
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