The word “tax” appears 97 times and counting in one recent summary of governors’ addresses to state legislators so far this year. The policy visions that governors are bringing, however, vary enormously. While there’s good reason to worry about tax cuts for wealthy families and the flattening or elimination of income taxes, there are at least five great tax ideas coming directly out of governors’ offices this year.
Child Tax Credit
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blog February 22, 2023 The Five Best Tax Ideas Coming from Governors This Year
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blog February 7, 2023 State of the Union Likely to Continue Progress on Tax Justice
After decades of Presidents who ran away from taxes, it’s a sea change to have a chief executive who understands that the rich should pay their fair share, extremely profitable corporations should pay their fair share, and the public sector should have revenue to invest in problems – like climate change and healthcare – that will only be solved with pathbreaking public action.
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blog January 18, 2023 Momentum Behind State Tax Credits for Workers and Families Continues in 2023
Refundable tax credits are an important tool for improving family economic security and advancing racial equity, and there is incredible momentum heading into 2023 to boost two key state credits: the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit.
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blog December 20, 2022 The Tax Deal That Wasn’t: Congress Decides Corporate Tax Cuts Are Too Expensive if it Means Also Helping Children
Congressional leaders announced their long-awaited omnibus spending package which will fund the government through September 2023. The good news: the bill does not include needless corporate tax giveaways. The bad news: it also leaves out any expansion of the child tax credit.
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blog December 19, 2022 ITEP’s Top 5 Charts of 2022
Covering federal, state, and corporate tax work, here are our top 5 charts of 2022. It’s worth noting that the biggest tax news of 2022 – the adoption of a federal 15 percent corporate minimum tax in the Inflation Reduction Act – should make some of these charts look much better after the new law is implemented.
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blog November 21, 2022 Child Tax Credit Expansion Would Shrink the Racial Wealth Gap
Extending the expanded Child Tax Credit would benefit nearly every child in low- and middle-income families. Under current rules, 24% of white children, 45% of Black children, and 42% of Hispanic children will not receive the full credit in 2023 because their families make too little. These figures would drop to zero if the provisions were extended, helping families of all races and disproportionately helping families of color.
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blog November 16, 2022 States Can Halve Child Poverty with Child Tax Credits
State policymakers have the tools they need to drastically reduce child poverty within their borders. A new ITEP report, coauthored with Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy, explores… -
report November 16, 2022 State Child Tax Credits and Child Poverty: A 50-State Analysis
Regardless of future Child Tax Credit developments at the federal level, state policies can supplement the federal credit to deliver additional benefits to children and families. State credits can be specifically tailored to meet the needs of local populations while also producing long-term benefits for society as a whole
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blog November 3, 2022 Key Republicans Say Negligible Decline in Economic Growth Outweighs Enormous Drop in Child Poverty
The expanded Child Tax Credit reduced child poverty dramatically and immediately. There is no debate or murkiness on this. Some lawmakers have decided that cutting child poverty in half is not worth the cost if it means an ambiguous and negligible decline in GDP growth. This view is not just cruel, it is bad economics.
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blog October 3, 2022 Congress Should Not Leave Children Out of Possible Year-End Tax Deal
If lawmakers believe it’s worthwhile to extend corporate tax breaks, then it would be entirely unreasonable for them to not conclude the same about tax provisions that help low-income children.
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brief September 15, 2022 More States are Boosting Economic Security with Child Tax Credits in 2022
After years of being limited in reach, there is increasing momentum at the state level to adopt and expand Child Tax Credits. Today ten states are lifting the household incomes of families with children through yearly multi-million-dollar investments in the form of targeted, and usually refundable, CTCs.
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blog September 14, 2022 Census Data Shows Need to Make 2021 Child Tax Credit Expansion Permanent
The Child Tax Credit expansion led to a 46 percent decline in childhood poverty. That it could be accomplished during the largest economic disruption in most of our lifetimes underscores a basic fact: thoughtful, decisive government action to combat poverty works.
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blog September 7, 2022 Romney Child Tax Credit Plan Would Leave Millions of Children Worse Off and Raise Taxes for the Average Black Family
Sen. Romney’s plan would expand the Child Tax Credit and offset the costs by scaling back other tax benefits. All told, it would raise taxes on a fourth of all kids in the U.S. This includes about a fourth of the children among the poorest fifth of U.S. families.
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report September 7, 2022 National and State-by-State Estimates of Two Approaches to Expanding the Child Tax Credit
The Romney Child Tax Credit plan would leave a quarter of children worse off compared to current law and help half as many low-income children as the 2021 expansion of the credit.
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blog July 22, 2022 Legislative Momentum in 2022: New and Expanded Child Tax Credits and EITCs
State legislatures across the country made investments in their future, centering children, families, and workers by enacting and expanding state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs), Child Tax Credits (CTCs), and… -
July 13, 2022 Abortion-Restricting States Do Least for Children
Lawmakers have passed laws in 22 states that either immediately or soon will greatly restrict women’s rights to decide whether and when to have children. These states have some of the worst tax, spending and labor market policies for families in the U.S.
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blog April 18, 2022 Public Problems Demand Public Solutions
Long-term troubles for this country and this planet now demand our attention. Progressive tax policy would transform our ability to tackle them.
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blog March 24, 2022 Women’s History Month is a Reminder that Sensible Tax Policy is Central to Women’s Economic Security
Women’s History Month is a chance to remember what happens for women when tax policy becomes more progressive, boosts income, and helps make raising a family more affordable.
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blog March 11, 2022 What We Can Learn Today from the American Rescue Plan – and Sen. Rick Scott’s Proposed Tax Increases
The success of the American Rescue Plan Act is worth revisiting today. Instead of pursuing Sen. Rick Scott’s agenda of making life more difficult for those already working the hardest, Congress should extend or make permanent some of the beneficial policies in ARPA.
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blog March 9, 2022 A Better Alternative: New Mexico Prioritizes Targeted, Temporary Tax Cuts
New Mexico stands in stark contrast to the many examples of poorly targeted tax-cut proposals currently being considered around the country.
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blog January 14, 2022 The Compelling Data and Moral Case for Continuing the Child Tax Credit Expansion
In just six short months, the enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC), enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP), decreased the number of children living in poverty by 40 percent. ITEP estimated that the lowest-income 20 percent of households with children would receive a 35 percent income boost from this policy alone in 2021. This is a meaningful, life-changing sum.
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blog January 13, 2022 The Problem with Returning to a $2,000 Non-Refundable Child Tax Credit
Prior to last year, more than one in three children lived in households with incomes too low to receive the full $2,000 credit because it is not fully refundable. This means earnings requirements and other limits reduce the amount tax filers can receive as a refund. In fact, the maximum refundable portion is reduced to $1,400 (less than half of the maximum refundable credit available in 2021).
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blog December 17, 2021 Pandemic Policies Demonstrate Government Can Address Widening Economic Inequality If Policymakers So Choose
We are surrounded by evidence that economic inequality is spinning out of control, yet we also see straightforward examples of how government can stop the downward spiral should it choose to do so. The Build Back Better Act, which invests in communities and ensures the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share, is one such example. Congress should pass it.
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blog December 14, 2021 ITEP Data on Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit Provisions Before Congress
Congress expanded the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP). The additional benefits that millions of… -
blog December 9, 2021 Tax Credits in Build Back Better Support Millions of Families
The EITC and CTC are proven poverty-fighting tools. The monthly CTC payments alone kept 3.6 million people out of poverty in October. This policy success is worth repeating.