Weekly News Round-up: March 28, 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 RSS feed, where you can filter news by a specific credit or state.
- Andrew Hanson of Real Clear Policy encouraged presidential candidates to support and expand the reach of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), specifically by indexing the size of the credit to a city’s cost of living. Because the real value of an EITC benefit is higher in cities with a lower cost of living compared with big cities where basic living expenses are more expensive, the EITC is less effective at helping low-income families make ends meet in these cities (R Steet).
- The New Jersey State Assembly passed a bill to increase the state’s EITC from 30 to 40 percent of the federal credit. The legislation now heads to the New Jersey Senate for approval (New Jersey Legislature).
- As Maryland legislators continue to negotiate a tax bill that would increase the state’s EITC for childless workers and lower the age of eligibility for the credit, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) says he supports the legislation (News & Observer).
- In Congress, a Republican poverty task force continued to evaluate how the American safety net helps low-income families. Advocates are hopeful that the group’s findings will add to the growing bipartisan support for the EITC (The Atlantic).