News Round-up: January 9, 2017

News Round-up: January 9, 2017

• New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced his plan to create an Enhanced Middle Class Child Care Tax Credit. The credit, which would supplement the state’s current Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), would double benefits for the 200,000 families earning $60,000 to $150,000 per year (Wall Street Journal, The Times Union, Watertown Daily News, Times Union, New York State).

• Enacting a state-level EITC is one option among many as Arkansas lawmakers debate how best to lower taxes on low- and middle-income families in the state (Fort Smith Times Record).

• Democratic lawmakers in Georgia began working to create a state EITC during the 2017 legislative session (Gainesville Times).

• California Assemblyman Marc Steinorth (R) introduced a bill that would expand the state’s EITC to self-employed workers who are eligible for the federal credit (The Highland News).

• Minnesota Mark Dayton (D) revived his bill from the 2016 session that would cut taxes for low- and middle-income families in part by expanding the state’s version of the federal EITC and Child and Dependent Care Credit (Hiawatha World Online).

• David Blatt, executive director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute, wrote an op-ed encouraging federal lawmakers to expand the EITC for workers not raising children, while urging Oklahoma lawmakers to restore refundability for the state’s EITC. The Oklahoma legislature made the state version of the federal EITC nonrefundable during the last legislative session (The Journal Record).

• Art Woolf, an associate professor of economics at the University of Vermont, encouraged the Vermont legislature to expand the state’s EITC (Burlington Free Press).

• Marc Stier, director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, and Jon Whiten, vice president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, wrote about how expanding the federal EITC to those not raising children could lift even more low-income workers out of poverty (Newsworks).

• Ann Carnes, Your Money Adviser columnist for The New York Times, wrote about impending EITC refund delays and how they will affect low- and middle-income filers this tax season (New York Times).