As we previously noted, the EITC is a proven tool for helping low- & moderate-income working fams w/ kids afford the basics. The EITC alone cannot solve families’ affordability challenges, but it can help. McDonald-Rivet’s bill takes an important step forward.
This could make a difference across kids’ lifetimes. Many studies of the EITC & similar tax credits for fams w/ kids find evidence these credits improve health & edu outcomes in childhood, & increase edu attainment, employment, & earnings in young adulthood. www.nber.org/papers/w33822
Older children living in fams with children age 0-3 would also benefit from their family receiving up to $5,500 per young kid. Overall the # of children < age 18 in fams w/ incomes below the poverty line would fall by about 700k kids, or a 7.3% reduction, in 2026.
Additional analysis on Rep. McDonald-Rivet’s #EITC bill for low-income working fams w/ kids <4 – the expansion would reduce the # of kids age 0-3 experiencing poverty by more than 400k kids – a dramatic 19.5% reduction, @centeronbudget.bsky.social estimates for 2026.
Going fwd, the Trump Admin plans to dramatically cut the number of audits Biden planned. Today House Republicans take a step toward that by proposing a destructive $1.4B enforcement cut. Congress should not signal that tax cheats can proceed w limited oversight.
Fewer sophisticated auditors means that fewer wealthy people will be audited. See below how audits of wealthy people plummeted since 2010 when Republicans began their latest round of gutting the IRS.
Currently, *the IRS has fewer auditors than it has had since the 1950s* – not a typo! – because Republicans have previously gutted the enforcement budget.
House Republicans proposed another reckless cut in the IRS budget. The proposed 9% cut would take the IRS budget to 44% below its 2010 level. This gutting of the IRS is a betrayal of honest taxpayers. It should be rejected out of hand
Pairing EITC expansions that provide targeted help to low-inc families with a Child Tax Credit that reaches all low-income children is one approach that can markedly reduce child poverty.
For the same cost, an EITC expansion can get more help to low-inc kids b/c of its targeting than a CTC expansion. Still, neither the EITC nor the CTC provide any help to kids w/ parents who are out of work in a given year, incl those laid off or ill – or those displaced by AI.
The EITC targets more help to fams w/ low & moderate incomes than the CTC, which benefits most children, though 19M kids don’t receive the full credit b/c their incomes are too low.
The EITC and #ChildTaxCredit are both proven ways to reduce poverty. In 2024, the two credits lifted 4.4 million children above the poverty line. www.cbpp.org/research/pol...
This bill stands in stark contrast to the priorities in last year’s Republican megabill, which included large tax breaks for high-income households, deep cuts in SNAP and Medicaid, and a very modest CTC increase that largely leaves out low-income children. www.cbpp.org/research/fed...
The EITC alone cannot solve families’ child care affordability challenges, but it can help. Families with incomes close to the poverty line who pay for child care spent an average of about 17 percent of their income on care in 2021. www.chicagofed.org/publications...
Under the McDonald-Rivet bill, a married couple with two children would qualify for an additional $5,500 per child under 4 if their incomes are between $18,290 and $31,160, after which both the EITC and young child supplement would phase-out.
The bill focuses on young children, providing as much as $5,500 per young child to families who qualify. The young-child focus recognizes that parents of young children often face reduced earnings due to caregiving responsibilities and high child care costs.
The #EITC is an important tool for helping low- & moderate-income working fams w/ kids afford the basics. Rep. McDonald-Rivet has intro’d a valuable bill expanding the EITC that @centeronbudget.bsky.social estimates would help >5M low-inc kids under age 4. mcdonaldrivet.house.gov/media/press-...
For over half a century, the National Weather Service has operated 24/7. But after the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency pushed to shrink the federal workforce, that’s no longer possible in parts of the country.
This would be an obvious act of ethnic cleansing under international law.
There’s been lots of chatter about repealing taxation of Social Security benefits in the tax bill. Turns out Rs opted to increase the standard deduction for some seniors instead.
Will this increase help lower- and middle-income retirees?
Nope, and here’s why. 🧵
The good news: the deeply flawed House GOP budget bill containing the tradeoff below doesn’t have the votes.
The bad news: it doesn’t have the votes because the House Freedom Caucus is trying to make the yellow bar bigger and the SALT caucus is trying to make the red bar bigger.
NEWS: Thanks to courageous West Virginia coal miner Harry Wiley and his brilliant attorney, Sam Petsonk, over 100 NIOSH workers in Morgantown, WV just got their jobs back and the crucial Coal Workers Surveillance Program will be restored.
They took on RFK and the Trump admin—and won. Story soon.
“Staffers at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts said Thursday that they plan to form a union in response to several waves of layoffs and what they describe as a lack of transparency from leaders at the arts institution, which President Donald Trump took over in February.”
The #SNAP cuts in the House Ag bill would hurt millions of people. It could be particularly devastating for families, retailers and others in rural America.
This is not a screenplay.
For some, these will be life or death situations. For many, these natural disasters will yield devastating loss.
We should have a FEMA ready, able and fully staffed to support the American public when it needs it most.
When the Trump administration eviscerated the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health office in Morgantown, WV in April, they abruptly shut down life-or-death services for coal miners with black lung.
One of those miners decided to fight back—and won.
inthesetimes.com/article/west...
Great new blog out from my colleague @brendanvduke.bsky.social
The House Ways & Means tax plan gives permanent tax breaks to the wealthy, with $105 billion going to households making over $1 million. Low-income families could face eventual tax hikes, alongside cuts to #Medicaid and #SNAP. @brendanvduke.bsky.social explains: www.cbpp.org/blog/how-hou...