Benefits

House Republicans reportedly pledged to cut programs funded by annual appropriations in 2024 back to their 2022 levels as part of the deal to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy as Speaker. The required cuts to important domestic needs would be deep under any likely scenario that meets their pledge, and would hit programs still feeling the after-effects of a decade of austerity.

In response to massive, rapid job loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress in 2020 passed the most expansive set of temporary unemployment benefits in our nation’s history. These steps were necessary largely because the permanent unemployment insurance (UI) system doesn’t cover many unemployed workers and often provides inadequate benefits. The temporary pandemic unemployment programs significantly increased the coverage, duration, and adequacy of unemployment benefits compared to regular UI, substantially reducing hardship and providing important economic stabilization and impetus for

For well over a decade, tax advisers have promoted a state income tax avoidance strategy called INGs — incomplete non-grantor trusts — among their wealthy clients. While INGs don’t enable wealthy people to avoid federal income taxes, their promoters promise that they can “avoid state income tax altogether” on income and gains from intangible property (financial assets such as stocks, bonds, and passive ownership shares in unincorporated businesses) that are transferred to a properly structured ING.[2] Leaked IRS records reveal that half of the country’s wealthiest people use some type of trust

This week at CBPP, we focused primarily on health, food assistance, state budgets and taxes, and the economy.On health, Laura Guerra-Cardus and Gideon Lukens emphasized the need for the last 11 states to expand Medicaid to maximize coverage and protect against a funding drop with the pending end of the program’s continuous coverage provision. On food assistance, we updated our tracker showing that states are using much-needed temporary flexibility in SNAP to respond to COVID-19 challenges. We also updated our quick guide to SNAP eligibility and benefits, both in English and Spanish. On state

Beginning April 1 state Medicaid agencies can once again act on eligibility redeterminations, subjecting a record-high number of people to a process that could lead to unprecedented coverage losses and significantly higher uninsured rates if states don’t adequately prepare.[1] This “unwinding” from the Medicaid continuous coverage protection — a requirement that states maintain enrollees’ coverage while getting a funding boost for doing so — will present challenges for all states, but particularly for the 11 that have so far rejected the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) expansion of Medicaid to

This week at CBPP, we were excited to announce that Ai-jen Poo, President of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Executive Director of Caring Across Generations, has joined our board of directors. We also focused on health and on state budgets and taxes. On health, Farah Erzouki explained why states must act to preserve Medicaid coverage as the end of continuous coverage requirement nears. On state taxes, Wesley Tharpe stressed the importance of states protecting or raising revenue as uncertainty looms. On state budgets, we updated a paper by Iris Hinh and Ed Lazere on how states can

In many states policymakers are starting 2023 legislative sessions with calls to layer more tax cuts on top of wasteful ones already enacted over the past two years. But with state revenues slowing and a potential recession looming, such a path could pose serious harm for workers, families, and communities nationwide.States should instead be taking the opposite approach: avoiding additional short-sighted tax cuts, reversing or at least trimming recently enacted ones, and enacting policies to raise revenues where possible. That way, their revenue systems and the vital public services they

On April 1, 2023, states will resume reviewing all Medicaid enrollees’ eligibility — a process often called “unwinding” — and will begin ending coverage for those found ineligible.

This week at CBPP, we focused on the federal budget and taxes, state taxes, food assistance, and the economy.On the federal budget, Joel Friedman explained why the House Republican rules package is designed to enable skewed priorities.On federal taxes, Chuck Marr described how the House GOP’s first bill is a misleading gambit to protect the interests of wealthy tax cheats.On state taxes, Michael Mazerov previewed key findings showing that the migration-related claims of state income tax opponents are grossly exaggerated.On food assistance, Joseph Llobrera pointed out how the Supplemental

The House Republican majority recently adopted a rules package to guide that chamber’s legislative action that would put up steep barriers to investments in critical national needs while paving the way for ever more tax cuts, inevitably tilted toward the wealthy and profitable corporations.

SNAP is one of our most effective tools to reduce hunger and food insecurity, which occurs when a lack of resources causes household members to struggle to afford enough food for an active, healthy life at least once in a year. But it does so much more. Our recent report summarizes 15 years of research linking SNAP with improved health outcomes and lower health care costs.SNAP can help families afford a healthier diet, reduce the stress of not being able to afford adequate food, and free up income to spend on medications and other basic needs. Pinpointing SNAP’s impact on health is challenging

This blog post previews key findings from a forthcoming update to CBPP research on the effect of taxes on interstate migration. Like its predecessors, the latest update will show that the migration-related claims of state income tax opponents are grossly exaggerated.Policymakers will consider potential tax code changes in many states’ 2023 legislative sessions, and one oft-cited argument they shouldn’t consider is the claim that state taxes are a significant driver of people moving into or out of a state.Most people in the U.S. plant roots in the places they live, and it takes a lot to uproot

House Republicans have announced that their first legislative priority is to rescind nearly all of the Inflation Reduction Act’s $80 billion in ten-year funding for the IRS, while repeating falsehoods and inflammatory rhetoric about how that funding will be used. While the Republicans have launched a campaign about a false “army” of 87,000 agents, the debate should focus on one accurate and alarming number: the IRS has 2,284 fewer skilled auditors to handle the sophisticated returns of wealthy taxpayers than it did in 1954. The decade-long, House Republican-driven budget cuts have created

This week at CBPP, we focused on state budgets and taxes. On state budgets and taxes, Iris Hinh updated our paper on how states can best use federal fiscal recovery funds. Chart of the Week: Most States Have Decided How to Spend Their Fiscal Recovery Funds Most States Have Decided How to Spend Their Fiscal Recovery Funds Share of total state Fiscal Recovery Funds appropriated (excludes funds granted to local governments) Note: The American Rescue Plan gave states $197.8 billion in Fiscal Recovery Funds to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Source: CBPP analysis A variety of news

This week at CBPP, we focused on the federal budget, health, food assistance, and the economy. On the federal budget, CBPP President Sharon Parrott released a statement on important investments and significant improvements in year-end appropriations legislation. We also translated into Spanish our backgrounder on the Child Tax Credit. On health, Allison Orris described how the year-end bill invests in kids’ health coverage and makes tradeoffs in the area of Medicaid continuous coverage. On food assistance, Zoë Neuberger and Katie Bergh explained why permanent summer grocery benefits are a big

Read in English Ayuda para las familias de bajos recursos Antes del Plan de Rescate y bajo la ley actual, el valor del crédito tributario por hijos para las familias de bajos recursos aumenta con los ingresos de la unidad familiar, hasta $2,000 por hijo. Por ejemplo, una familia que gana menos de $2,500 no recibe el crédito; sin embargo, una familia monoparental con dos hijos que gana entre $2,500 y $30,000 aproximadamente, solo recibe una parte del crédito. Asimismo, sólo una parte del crédito es reembolsable. Eso significa que si el valor del crédito excede la cantidad del impuesto federal a

The year-end omnibus spending bill includes important investments in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), including requiring states to provide 12 months of continuous eligibility for children in all states. While it pays for these items with an early phase-out of a provision that has kept millions of people enrolled in Medicaid without interruption during the COVID-19 pandemic, it also has measures to smooth the process of “unwinding” this provision. Even considering the tradeoffs negotiators made to strike this bipartisan deal, and the important policies left out

The recently released year-end budget legislation includes a permanent Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program to provide grocery benefits to the nation’s low-income families with school-age children when schools are closed for the summer — a historic investment in the nutrition, education, and well-being of some 30 million children. One element of the proposal — the financing mechanism — is troubling. The new permanent Summer EBT benefit is paid for by ending temporary emergency SNAP benefits (known as emergency allotments) earlier than expected. These emergency SNAP benefits have helped

Finalizing a year-end omnibus bill is an important accomplishment for Congress, and the bipartisan bill released today includes several key investments, including significant, permanent advances in child nutrition and children’s health, and more adequate funding levels than would have been possible in a full-year continuing resolution. At the same time, the package is disappointing in a number of ways — notably it fails to expand the Child Tax Credit, the most important policy we can adopt right now to substantially cut child poverty and boost families’ incomes as they cope with higher costs.

This week at CBPP, we focused on food assistance, income security, and the economy. On food assistance, Steven Carlson and Joseph Llobrera detailed how the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is linked with improved health outcomes and lower health care costs. On income security, LaDonna Pavetti testified before the Mississippi Legislative Democratic Caucus on opportunities to improve the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. On the economy, we updated our backgrounder on the recovery from the pandemic recession. Chart of the Week — SNAP Participants Report Better Health Than