End the "ghetto tax"!

OK, stop laughing now, I'm serious.

The cost of living in low-income areas is higher than you'd expect. Because of fears of crime, banks and large stores tend to avoid such areas. Banks charge people living there higher interest rates on loans (if/when the loan is actually approved). The lack of larger stores typically means higher prices for goods and services than in higher-income areas. It's like shopping in a corner store as opposed to a supermarket - you'll pay up to 25% more for what you want, because often that is the only store in the area.

Add to that insult the fact that these people make less money (duh). When your income is low, and most of the money you earn goes to your housing and food, how do you buy a TV, or furniture? You rent to own - and wind up paying up to (and maybe over) 300% OVER the one-time cost over the life of the rental period.

Good luck putting your child(ren) through college... especially now, with federal monies drying up.

Helping residents of poor areas escape some of the financial burdens placed on them is essential, given our government's unwillingness to increase the minimum wage, or provide universal health care... two changes which would make the insults described above a little more bearable.