What is poverty?
You can ask anyone:
The absence or lack of money
Is the norm.
What is poverty?
The opposite of wealth
And it’s usually accompanied
By poor health.
What is poverty?
It is the curse of the poor,
Thus, from their birth to death,
Don’t expect more.
What is poverty?
Choose from the above
Or come up with another;
You be the judge.
However, here’s another
That I saw recently,
I’ve typed it out as it appeared
Just to let you see.
“Poverty isn’t
Just not having money,
It’s an invisible tax
You pay every single day
For not being able to afford
The good things from the start.
A poor person spends more to live
Than a rich person does.”
A cognitive crisis
Occurred to me,
I had thought poverty was
The lack of money.
The first line says no,
It’s an invisible tax
Imposed on the poverty stricken
And stated as fact.
Note this tax is paid
Every single day
And the poverty stricken must pay it
Without fail.
An invisible tax
Imposed by circumstance
Making it practically impossible
To ever advance.
Not able to afford
Essentials from the start
Will attract the daily life long tax
Of poverty’s mark.
Poverty is not
Just not having money
But even the little that one gets,
He can’t keep any.
The poor spends more
Than the rich really does,
Hire purchase for example
Is a real humbug.
The poor pays more
Than the rich in this case
And the longer the repay time
The more the waste.
A mortgage is a killer
As in compound interest,
Paying back several times over
Is a horrid test.
Buying cheaper
Rather than the genuine
Is more costly in the long term
And is overbearing.
It’s clear a poor person
Spends more to live
Since even the little he receives,
All he must give.
There is a penalty
For being in poverty,
It is that daily, invisible tax
We call money.
A better word, I’d say
Could very well be debt,
Most that were born into poverty-
Their destiny is set.
Set to be poor
And thus, spending more,
This is the way of those in poverty;
‘Tis a closed door.
Here’s the quote again,
I trust it now makes sense
But if it is not applicable to you,
Take no offence.
“Poverty isn’t
Just not having money,
It’s an invisible tax
You pay every single day
For not being able to afford
The good things from the start.
A poor person spends more to live
Than a rich person does.”
Unable to afford
The good things from the start?
Well, it is that invisible tax
That rips us apart.
If you could afford it
You would spend a lot less
And you’d save that invisible tax
Thus, less stress.
Just to survive
A poor person pays more,
Far different from the rich person
Who has it for sure.
Poverty is itself a tax
Imposed on the poor
And this tax often reveals itself
In many a closed door.
An invisible tax
Imposed by the rich
Who gets all that the poor has
By treat or trick.
Money goes up
But seldom trickles down,
The rich invariably spends less
With the poor around.
“Poverty isn’t
Just not having money,
It’s an invisible tax
You pay every single day
For not being able to afford
The good things from the start.
A poor person spends more to live
Than a rich person does.”
Stewart Russell © September 2, 2026
