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Tax debate overshadows U.S. poverty report

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Advocates for the poor say they are not surprised that political leaders responded to a new report on poverty in America by pushing middle-class tax cuts.

President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders said this week that addressing taxes on the middle class was an important priority in keeping more Americans from sliding in to poverty.

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The Washington Post said Saturday that advocates for the poor fear the urgency of the Census Bureau's report, which pegged the poverty rate at its highest level in about 50 years, is being lost in the debate over taxes on families with six-figure incomes.

"We talk to many people on Capitol Hill who do believe poverty is important and is a blight on our nation," said Deborah Weinstein, executive director of the Coalition on Human Needs. "But we are also up against a general recognition that poor people don't vote in great numbers. And they certainly aren't going to be making campaign contributions."

The Post said a 2009 Pew Research poll found that while 60 percent of U.S. residents asked agreed the government needed to assist poor people, support tailed off sharply if it would involve raising taxes.

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