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Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) speaks about the importance of the refundable Child Tax Credit for all working families. The House Ways and Means Committee has advanced legislation that would require parents claiming the refundable CTC to provide a Social Security number, denying the credit to millions of children who are U.S. citizens.
Featured Report
New research suggests that the Earned Income Tax Credit leads less-educated women to be more likely to be eligible for Social Security retirement benefits later in life, and to receive higher monthly benefit amounts, according to a March working paper from the Congressional Budget Office.
Recent Updates
Weekly News Round-Up: May 18, 2012
Highlights this week include Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and state GOP legislators announcing an agreement to cut the state’s top personal income tax rate next year. The plan spares the state’s credits for low- and moderate-income workers, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and Child Care Credit. And in Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has already voiced his support for the new tax reform plan that Kansas House and Senate negotiators agreed to on Wednesday. While the agreement includes a cut to the EITC from 18 percent of the federal credit to 15 percent, negotiators did remove an earlier provision that would have required eligible Kansans to only take either the EITC or the state’s food sales tax rebate. Under the new plan, eligible families could continue to receive both credits. If the legislature does not pass this plan, the Governor will sign an earlier bill that leaves the EITC intact but forces families to choose between the credits.
New Policy Brief on an Important Higher Education Tax Credit for Low- and Middle-Income Families
In conjunction with a briefing it held on Capitol Hill today, the National Community Tax Coalition (NCTC) released a policy brief that lays out the broad spectrum of challenges students face in higher education affordability – such as the crucial role that tax credits play.
For many low- and moderate-income families, the sticker shock of a college degree leads them to conclude that higher education is not even remotely accessible. Students and their families need a package of strategies to pay for college, including the support of higher education tax credits and especially the expiring American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC).
