News Round Up: December 7, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting low-income communities and exacerbating economic inequality across the country. Throughout this crisis, TCWF will compile news, legislation, and research on how tax credits and other income-boosting policies can provide much-needed relief for the hardest-hit communities:
Top Story: Chuck Marr, senior director of federal tax policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), urged policymakers to allow filers to use their 2019 income to calculate their Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) amounts to ensure they receive their full credit. (CBPP)
- Aiden Davis, senior state policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), highlighted how federal and state EITCs could be expanded and enhanced to better meet the current needs of low-income families. (ITEP)
- Samuel Hammond, director of poverty and welfare policy at the Niskanen Center, outlined the need for federal support for families and children in the next federal COVID-19 relief package, such as expanding the value of the CTC or making the credit fully refundable. (Niskanen Center)
- Shirar Patterson, president and CEO of the United Way of Eastern Maine, and Courtney Yeager, executive director of the United Way of Kennebec Valley, called on Congress to ease the financial harms of COVID-19 on Maine workers by making some key expansions and reforms to the EITC and CTC. (Bangor Daily News)
- We blogged about Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality’s Economic Security and Opportunity Initiative’s new report on introducing EITC periodic payments to ensure the credit’s timing is meeting the immediate needs of workers. (TCWF)