Miami-Dade poverty
According to the July 30 story, Report: One third of young children in Dade live in poverty, the report is based on census data. But census data is flawed. Why? Because Miami-Dade County has an enormous underground cash economy.
In part, this is because it has, to a significant extent, a service-based economy. But it also has widespread white collar criminal activity of various kinds such as medicare, welfare, and food stamp fraud — all of which is evidenced by the fact that South Florida has one of the largest U.S. Attorney offices in the country.
It’s highly unlikely that people are reporting their unreported cash or cashed, unreported check income as part of their income. Most people don’t admit their tax evasion to any government employee or affiliated person.
I would also like to know if the census data and the county report take into consideration the fact that in many Miami-Dade households there are three generations living together where all three generations are working.
Are there people of lesser means in Miami-Dade County? Yes. But do a third of young children in the county live in poverty? I doubt it.
Robert E. Panoff, Pinecrest
This story was originally published August 2, 2015 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Miami-Dade poverty."