News Round-Up: October 23, 2017

Here are some highlights from the past week’s news and upcoming events on family tax credit issues.

  • An in-depth look by PolitiFact at the White House tax reform framework, found that while the plan has few specifics about Child Tax Credit (CTC) reform, it is one of the few aspects of the proposal that will benefit low-income working families.  (PolitiFact)
  • Ernie Tedeschi, a former U.S. Treasury Department economist, argued that the GOP’s proposed expansion of the CTC would only provide modest changes for low-income working families. Tedeschi called for improving the CTC by making the credit refundable and making the credit applicable against both income and payroll taxes to benefit more low-income families. (The New York Times)
  • Gene Sperling, former national economic advisor to President Barack Obama, argued that expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for workers without dependent children could move more low-income workers out of poverty and provide more Americans with financial security. (The Atlantic)
  • The Connecticut House of Representatives’ bipartisan budget proposal would cut the EITC from 27.5 percent to 23 percent of the federal EITC. (Connecticut Post)
  • A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities examines the record decline in child poverty in the U.S. and what the government can do to ensure the trend continues. The report suggests expanding federal tax credits for low-income families and enacting state-level credits. (CityLab)
  • We blogged about the Senate Democrats’ new tax reform proposal, the Stronger Way Act, which includes expansions to the EITC and CTC as part of tax reform that rewards work. (TCWF)