Poverty-reduction effort linked to lower gun suicide rate

In low-income communities, mental health can suffer from the stress of living in poverty.

States that offer refundable earned income tax credits saw gun suicide rates fall, with more generous refunds leading to greater declines.

States that provide low-income working families with earned income tax credits (EITCs) tend to see lower rates of firearm suicides than states that do not. The more generous the benefit, the bigger the declines tend to be, researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle have found.

“One way for states to reduce firearm suicides, and the substantial social and economic costs they incur, is to consider implementing more generous EITC programs,” said Nicole Asa, a doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology at the UW School of Public Health. She was the study's lead investigator.

The study was published March 21 in the journal JAMA Network Open. It was a project of the UW Firearm Injury & Policy Research Program, based in the University of Washington School of Medicine. 

Each year more than 27,000 Americans die by firearm suicide, about 74 a day. Firearm suicide rates tend to be higher in low-income communities, where mental health can often suffer from the stress of living in poverty.

The federal earned income tax credit is the largest poverty-alleviation program for low-income working families. To qualify, the worker must have earned income below a certain threshold. Depending on income and the number of children in the household, the credit reduces the worker’s federal tax. If the credit is greater than what the worker owes, the difference is given as a refund.

In 2019, the average credit received in the United States was $2,461. Research has associated the EITC with a decrease in poverty and increase in employment.

Thirty-one states plus Puerto Rico, Guam and the District of Columbia provide an additional refundable EITC on top of the federal program. These credits range from 3% to 125% of the federal credit, or about $73.80 to $3,076.25.

Three prior studies have shown that EITCs reduce the overall number of suicides, but another showed no association. None focused on suicides by firearm, the most common mechanism of suicide death.

The researchers in this study wanted to look at the effect of states’ EITC on firearm suicide, specifically. They hypothesized that more generous EITC policies might affect firearm suicides, given the strong tie between poverty and firearm-related mortality.

They found that, compared with states that did not implement a refundable EITC, states that did saw a 7.9% relative decline in firearm suicide from their pre-implementation rates. In addition, every 10% increase in the generosity of a state’s refundable EITC was associated with 4.3% relative decline in firearm suicide rates.

“This makes sense: In states with more generous refundable EITCs, people are getting more money, so they experience less poverty and economic stress,” Asa said.

“Our findings support the growing body of literature that antipoverty policies like EITC can help reduce firearm suicide,” she added.

Alice Ellyson, a UW assistant professor of pediatrics, was a coauthor on the paper, and Dr. Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, UW professor of epidemiology and pediatrics and director of the Firearm Injury & Policy Research Program, was the senior author.

The Firearm Injury & Policy Research Program is supported by the state of Washington. 

Written by Michael McCarthy

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