Getting ready to get out of town. The Senate could vote as soon as tomorrow on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded until mid-December. The House still will need to vote before the government runs out of money on Friday night. Once the measure is approved, Congress is expected to leave town until after the November elections.
There’s still time to apply for the EITC and expanded CTC. While about 80 percent of those eligible have applied for the Earned Income Tax Credit and 90 percent of eligible families have applied for the expanded child tax credit (CTC), former IRS commissioner John Koskinen said “that still leaves millions of eligible taxpayers who are not participating in these programs and taking advantage of them.” The Bipartisan Policy Center issued a report on ways to improve the take-up and administration of both credits.
Maag: Congress should restore the expanded CTC during the lame duck session. Given mounting inflation and new evidence that parents are struggling without the monthly benefits, TPC’s Elaine Maag argues that restoring full credit refundability, higher credit amounts, and delivering the credit monthly would keep child poverty at historic lows and give parents the option to receive regular payments to meet ongoing needs.
How might states reduce the burdens of harmful fines and fees? TPC’s Aravind Boddupalli and Kim Rueben suggest states use surging revenues and federal aid to help local governments reduce or eliminate some fines and fees. Those fees don’t account for a large share of state and local revenue but can hurt low-income residents, especially those of color. They highlight a new TPC interactive data feature that shows what it would cost individual states to replace revenues collected through criminal legal processes.
Just in time: Facing November election, Gov. Noem (also) vows permanent repeal of South Dakota’s sales tax on groceries. She opposed the idea in March, but now the Republican governor promises to eliminate the state’s 4.5 percent grocery sales tax, saving consumers $100 million. Her Democratic opponent Jamie Smith already pushed a bipartisan bill to repeal the tax. Noem debates Smith tomorrow evening.
UK tax cut plan is not resonating. The Bank of England, the United Kingdom’s central bank, announced it would buy up as much government debt as needed to restore stability of the British pound and financial markets— reversing its earlier plan to sell bonds. The International Monetary Fund urged the British government to “reevaluate” tax cuts that likely will accelerate inflation and increase economic inequality. UK business leaders have criticized the Tory government’s tax cuts and recent polling shows sinking support for newly-elected Prime Minister Liz Truss.
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