News Round-up: December 12, 2016
Here are some highlights from the past week’s news and upcoming events on family tax credit issues.
- Advocates are concerned that Kansas lawmakers may eye the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for cuts this legislative session. After Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law extreme tax cuts in 2012, the state faced serious budget problems—experts predict a $350 million revenue shortfall in the current fiscal year (Topeka Capital-Journal).
- To help advocates begin planning for tax season, we rounded up tools and tips for building stellar EITC campaigns, including a new animated video from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) (TCWF, CBPP).
- President-Elect Donald Trump announced he will nominate Andy Puzder as Secretary of Labor. Although Puzder is against raising the minimum wage, he supports expanding the federal EITC (New York Times, Washington Times).
- Oklahoma Collin Walke introduced a bill that would reverse last year’s legislation that made the state’s EITC nonrefundable (KFOR).
- Martha Burk, director of the Corporate Accountability Project for the National Council of Women’s Organizations (NCWO), wrote about how Trump’s plan to make child care expenses tax deductible would harm low- and middle-income women (Common Dreams).
- Neil Irwin of the New York Times argued that if President-Elect Trump wants to support the working class, he should target them directly by expanding the EITC rather than offering tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy (New York Times, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities).