News Round Up: January 21, 2020
Here are some highlights from the past week’s news and upcoming events on family tax credit issues:
Top Story: On February 6, join TCWF and Prosperity Now on Capitol Hill to discuss how Congress can strengthen tax credits for low-income workers in 2020. Register here.
- In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) emphasized why state tax policies are vital for undoing the legacy of racial discrimination toward people of color and how states can use their tax codes to promote racial and economic justice. (CBPP)
- Hawaii Governor David Ige (D) and state legislators announced a deal ahead of the state legislative session to address poverty across the state, which included a measure to make the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) refundable. The proposals in the deal will now be formally introduced into chamber committees for consideration. (ITEP; The Washington Times)
- Ahniwake Rose, executive director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute, urged the Oklahoma state legislature to restore refundability to the state EITC, which would benefit more than 200,000 working Oklahoma families. (The Journal Record) Last week, State Senator George Young (D-Oklahoma City) introduced legislation to restore refundability to the credit. The bill now heads to the Senate chamber for consideration. (Oklahoma State Legislature)
- In her State of the State Address, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo (D) outlined her 2020 policy priorities including an expansion of the state’s EITC, currently worth 15 percent of the federal credit. (WPRI News)
- The Commonwealth Institute encouraged the Virginia state legislature to prioritize policies that would make the state tax code fairer for low-income workers during the 2020 General Assembly session, such as strengthening the state EITC by making it refundable. (The Commonwealth Institute)