Poverty Measurement Improvement Act

Poverty Measurement Improvement Act

This bill requires the Bureau of the Census, for each of FY2017-FY2027, in order to more accurately determine the extent of poverty in the United States and the anti-poverty effectiveness of federal means-tested benefit and tax programs, to conduct a new survey of income and poverty in the United States and supplement and verify the information obtained using data from the most recent available Current Population Survey (CPS), data furnished by state and federal agencies that administer such benefits, and income tax data.

The Bureau shall produce tables and graphs showing for each year the poverty rates and related data calculated using the survey responses and other data collected, including:

• the total family income for survey respondents (the sum of all money income and federal means-tested benefits minus state and federal income and payroll taxes of household members);
• a breakdown of the amount of income taxes and payroll taxes paid by survey respondents; and
• for 2018 and subsequent years, poverty rates calculated using updated poverty thresholds.

For 2018 and subsequent years, the Bureau shall adjust the poverty thresholds for determining poverty rates by using the personal consumer expenditure price index.

The Bureau shall create a database that contains data from the survey, data from the most recent available CPS, and data furnished by administering agencies. The bill applies specified security, disclosure, and confidentiality restrictions to personally identifiable information obtained under this bill and makes data contained in a response to a survey conducted pursuant to this bill inadmissible as evidence in any court or agency proceeding.

The bill requires: (1) state administering agencies to report to federal administering agencies on federal means-tested benefits received by each household, (2) the Bureau to provide summary statistics comparing income levels to consumption habits of respondents to the Consumer Expenditure Survey, and (3) the Government Accountability Office to submit a report comparing the income measure created under this bill to the income measure used by the Bureau for calculating the supplemental poverty measure.