Child poverty measures tell two stories in New Mexico
Voices for Children recommends the state keep pushing forward on efforts to decrease child poverty in New Mexico.
Esteban Candelaria, The Santa Fe New Mexican
Does New Mexico have the worst rate of child poverty in the nation? It might depend on how you measure it.
According to three-year averages on one measure from U.S. Census Bureau data released in September, it does. But nonprofit child advocacy organization New Mexico Voices for Children said there’s reason for optimism when looking at another measure.
“Far too many families are living in poverty, when we look at the [official poverty measure]. It’s really unacceptable. It has very real implications for child well-being that can’t be entirely resolved by benefit programs and tax credits alone,” Voices for Children research and policy analyst Emily Wildau said during a virtual news conference Wednesday morning. “But the [official poverty measure] doesn’t actually show us the also very real impact of those programs that do lift many kids and families out of poverty.”
Under the official poverty measure, a metric based on the minimum income threshold to cover basic needs, New Mexico children’s 2021 to 2023 average of 27.4% nearly doubles the national average of 15.1%.
Under another, newer metric known as the supplemental poverty measure — which takes more factors into consideration, including benefits and tax credits — New Mexico children fare better, posting a three-year average of 8.9% that’s slightly lower than the national three-year average of 10.4%. According to Voices for Children, that ties New Mexico for 17th in the nation.
State Taxation and Revenue Department Cabinet Secretary Stephanie Schardin Clarke said she’s proud of the improvements in New Mexico’s standing on that measure, but acknowledged a need for improvement.
“To have ... 9% of New Mexico children still falling into poverty, even when you measure it more accurately — of course, there’s still more work to do,” she said.
Voices for Children recommends the state keep pushing forward on efforts to decrease child poverty in New Mexico, including by raising the state’s minimum wage, redoubling efforts from the last legislative session to ensuring access to paid family and medical leave and increasing investments in programs like tax credits.
Still, income supports may have diminishing returns.
Reports from Legislative Finance Committee staff have noted a family’s ability to rise out of poverty can be impacted by “benefits cliffs” — in other words, points at which a family’s rising income makes income supports go away, thus negating their progress.
“For example, a married couple with two children whose wages increased by [$30,000] would lose more than [$29,000] in benefits, including estimated losses of more than [$11,000] in Medicaid, $6,700 in [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, often called food stamps], and $6,000 in taxes through state and federal earned income tax credits,” committee staff wrote in an April report. “Therefore, the actual benefit from the additional [$30,000] in earnings is only an estimated $378.”
Overcoming that barrier would require more education and significantly higher earnings, LFC staff noted, and pointed to policy changes from the National Conference of State Legislatures to remedy the issue, including a suggestion to modify SNAP benefits limits.
New Mexico Health Care Authority Deputy Secretary Kyra Ochoa said the state recently expanded SNAP eligibility, allowing people with incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty level to qualify. That expansion, up from 165%, is estimated to expand eligibility to another 67,697 households.
That move would help mitigate the benefits cliff, Ochoa said.
“That’s a really key way that we can buffer that cliff effect — building a ramp instead of a cliff,” Ochoa said.
Schardin Clarke noted the state Working Families and Child tax credits, along with the Low-Income Comprehensive Tax Rebate, all gradually tail off as incomes rise to avoid a benefits cliff. She also noted that census poverty data doesn’t yet fully reflect New Mexico’s Child Tax Credit.
“The most impactful relief that we’re giving does avoid cliffs by making sure that it tapers off gradually,” she said.
Not everyone is convinced the supplemental poverty measure gives a full picture of child poverty in New Mexico.
Rep. Alan Martinez, R-Bernalillo, questioned whether income supports that may be factored into the measure actually lift children out of poverty, and emphasized a need in New Mexico to address the root economic problems.
“I fully believe in SNAP benefits for needy [families], but I don’t think that we should make people dependent on just SNAP benefits. We need to figure out a way that these people can make a better life,” he said.
Esteban Candelaria is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. He covers child welfare and the state Children, Youth and Families Department for the Santa Fe New Mexican. Learn more about Report for America at www.reportforamerica.org. This story was republished through a partnership with AP Storyshare.