Reply To: The New Tax Law – 2018 – How it affects frum families

Poverty guidelines and entitlement benefits are based on family size. If KJ had an average of 3.14 people per family, like the American national average was in 2016, rather than an average family size of 11 (two parents and nine children k’h), then KJ would be considered to have an above average income and below average poverty rate (and wouldn’t qualify for as much Medicaid and food stamps.) It is only because of their large family sizes that results in their being counted as impovershed and qualifying for benefits. Their per family income, in terms of actual dollars per year, is not below the national average per household.