Weekly News Round-up: June 20, 2016

Here are some highlights from the past week’s news and upcoming events on family tax credit issues. Remember – you also can track news coverage throughout the week by visiting our website, where you can filter news by a specific credit or state.

  • The California Department of Finance announced that only half of the funds set aside for the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program were collected during tax season, meaning that thousands of families across the state who are eligible for the credit failed to claim it on their tax returns. Lawmakers have set aside an extra $2 million in the state budget to fund outreach campaigns and raise awareness of the credit, which was created in 2015 to help offset income inequality across the state (Sacramento Bee).
  • The Century Foundation, Center for American Progress, and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) will host a Capitol Hill briefing on Friday, July 8 that will explore ways to build on programs such as the Child Tax Credit (CTC) to reduce child poverty. Register here.
  • The PATH Act, a bill passed by Congress last year to reduce improper payments of the EITC, will have another side effect: Starting next tax season, it will delay EITC and CTC benefit checks until after February 15 (Accounting Today).
  • Lawmakers in New Jersey continued to debate a transportation funding package that would offset a gas tax by expanding the state’s EITC to 40 percent of the federal credit (NJ.com).
  • The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Editorial Board wrote about the disparity in the infant mortality rate between white and black babies in Wisconsin and encouraged lawmakers to reduce poverty and inequality to close the gap. The editorial discussed the EITC as a way to achieve that goal (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).
  • A new study in the American Journal of Public Health found that increases to either the minimum wage or EITC could increase birth weights and reduce the infant mortality rate (US News and World Report).
  • A new brief from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) examined the role of refundable tax credits for low-wage workers in increasing labor force participation among mothers (AEI).