In Case You Missed It...

This week on Off the Charts, we focused on health reform, the economy, federal taxes, poverty, and food assistance.

• On health reform, Paul Van de Water highlighted a Congressional Budget Office estimate that only 1.2 percent of Americans will pay a penalty for failure to get health coverage.  Chye-Ching Huang described how a different provision of health reform — the Medicare tax increase — will similarly affect very few taxpayers.  Dave Chandra listed five reasons why states should act quickly to set up health insurance exchanges.

• On the economy, Chad Stone examined the June jobs report, explaining that it remains difficult to find a job in today’s job market.

• On federal taxes, Chye-Ching Huang listed ten things you need to know about the capital gains tax, and Jared Bernstein and Chuck Marr discussed how tax reform can become a trap that increases deficits and inequality.

• On poverty, Indivar Dutta-Gupta examined the important role that public benefit programs play in reducing poverty.

• On food assistance, Stacy Dean pointed to her USA Today op-ed, which explains that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps millions of low-income Americans afford an adequate diet.

In other news, we issued Chad Stone’s statement on the June employment report and an analysis of SNAP changes in a House Agriculture Committee farm bill proposal.  We also updated our chart book on the legacy of the Great Recession and our roundup of state government SNAP resources.

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