News Round Up: March 29, 2021
Top Story: A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) examined the underlying policy failures that enabled the level of economic crisis and inequity experienced in the U.S. since the pandemic began. The report recommends a recovery package that invests in children, expands health coverage, and supports workers, including by permanently expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). (CBPP)
- A new Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) study found that promoting free tax filing assistance has the potential to increase EITC uptake more than promoting the EITC itself. (SIEPR)
- An Op-ed by leaders of policy organizations across Colorado noted that 90% of the state’s children will benefit from the expanded federal Child Tax Credit (CTC) and called on lawmakers to make the expansions to the federal credit permanent and fully fund the state CTC. (Denver Post)
- The cost of raising children is unattainable for many prospective or current parents, and a Connecticut state CTC would help reduce that burden and create stronger families in the state, state Rep. Sean Scanlon (D) wrote. (CT Post)
- Illinois state representatives recently introduced HB 2792, which would expand the state EITC to residents between the ages of 18-24 and over 65 without dependents. (Quad-City Times)
- The Maine Center on Economic Policy urged state lawmakers to strengthen the state’s EITC – boosting incomes for 92,000 households – by enacting a tax increase on the state’s wealthiest 3%. (Maine Beacon)
- Missouri’s Senate economic development committee held a hearing on the Affordable Child Care for Families Tax Credit Act, which would create a tax credit worth 10% of the federal Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) that would eventually increase to 30% of the federal credit. (News Tribune)
- Legislation being considered by the New York State Assembly that would expand the state EITC to 40% of the federal credit would benefit more than a million New Yorkers and advance equity, the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) wrote in a recent blog. (FPI)
- North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s proposed budget would restore the state EITC and create a CDCTC, and he is seeking to maintain the credits in budget negotiations with the state legislature. (The News & Observer).
- The Ohio House passed legislation that would increase the state CDCTC once it receives the governor’s signature. (The Center Square)