We fi nd that in 2008, even excluding health care, a single parent with two children
moving from no earnings to poverty level earnings faced a marginal tax rate between
–13.3 percent (New Jersey) and 25.5 percent (Hawaii). That is, if living in New Jersey,
when this parent increased her earnings, she kept all her earnings and received 13.3
additional cents for every dollar earned. In contrast, if this parent lived in Hawaii, she
had a net change in income that was 25.5 percent less than her change in earnings.