By james art 
Imagine that you are offered promotion and a job increase. There is only one catch: if you take it, you will move to a higher tax group-so high, in fact, that you will actually find yourself with a less payment for your home. What would you do?
This is exactly the situation in which many low -income Utah residents are located. Someone who is trying to leave the welfare for work will probably encounter a phenomenon known as a “rock for well -being.” That is, when they begin to earn more job income, they can face the sudden loss of benefits for well -being, potentially leaving them more financially.
In terms of its functional impact, the loss of benefits acts like an increase in taxes. Politicians often discuss marginal tax rates. They are correctly worried that high limit tax rates can reduce investment, entrepreneurship and economic growth. But the rocks of well-being may mean that some of the highest marginal tax rates (or their equivalent) fall on low-income Americans trying to get out of poverty. In some cases, especially for those who earn between 100 and 250% of the federal poverty level, the marginal tax may exceed 100%. This can discourage them to pursue work, marriage, education and other steps towards self -sufficiency.
It is difficult to deny the importance of work for any long -term poverty reduction strategy. Then it is a pity that many social care programs are designed in ways that discourage work. The rocks of well -being effectively sanction the recipients of well -being to take these steps towards self -sufficiency that politicians should want.
As researchers at the University of Weber said in Ovden, “workers make work and career decisions based on short -term financial considerations. Benefit styles injure families that are financially forthcoming, although they move forward, hurt businesses who are crashing and fighting to fill open positions and hold workers, and hurt taxpayers who carry the cost of increased public need for public benefits. “
This is obviously a structural flaw in our approach to help people in poverty.
Utah has long been known as a leader in the reform of well -being. His one door policy, combining the support of well -being with the development of the workforce, is a model for the nation. Solving rocks for well -being would be the next logical step in the state’s efforts to encourage people to move from welfare to work.
The simplest and most effective way to deal with social rocks would be to establish “transitional benefits” to compensate for the loss of benefits that is happening as the recipient earns income without complications. Instead of a person who immediately loses benefits when their income reaches the eligibility threshold, the benefits will “retreat” in proportion to the increase in income income. This would be similar to an adopted approach, but it has not yet been applied by Missouri last year. Several states, including Massachusetts and Tennessee, are also experimenting with pilot projects using an approach to transitional benefits.
Utah’s legislation is reported to work on potential solutions for some of the oldest rocks for the welfare of the state. In this way, Utah will smooth out the transition from well-being to work, which leads to more profits, more self-sufficiency, more innovation and more efficiently spent dollars for well-being.