Weekly News Round-up: June 6, 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.

  • House Republicans this week are expected to announce their plans to combat poverty and present the findings of an anti-poverty taskforce. Ahead of that release, Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) wrote an opinion piece encouraging Congress to continue efforts to help working families make ends meet while investing in programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) that have a proven record of supporting low-income households (Washington Post).
  • TCWF spoke to Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), who introduced the Enhancing Advancement, Reducing Noncompliance and Improving Trust (EARN IT) Act. The bill would increase the maximum EITC for filers without dependent children and lower the eligibility age from 25 to 21, but could make it more difficult for some workers to file for the credit (TCWF).
  • In Arkansas, lawmakers talked about plans to create a state EITC during the 2017 legislative session (Arkansas Online). Arkansas Business also ran an interview with Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families, who discussed how a refundable state EITC could help families in Arkansas make ends meet (Arkansas Business).
  • Oregon Kate Brown (D) announced that if voters in November pass Ballot Initiative 38, which would increase taxes on business and raise an estimated $3 billion each year, she will encourage the legislature to use some of those funds to expand the state’s EITC (Oregon Live).