In Case You Missed It . . .

This week on Off the Charts, we focused on federal and state taxes and the safety net.

• On federal and state taxes, Chuck Marr explained how the House Republican approach to make “tax extenders” permanent represents both ill-advised fiscal policy and misguided priorities and excerpted his Real Clear Policy post, where he pointed out that repealing the federal estate tax would benefit the heirs of the wealthiest estates greatly — and the vast majority of estates not at all. He also noted that IRS Oversight Board survey data show that Americans overwhelmingly take pride in paying their taxes. Chye-Ching Huang listed four facts about the tax code’s marriage penalties and marriage bonuses. Brandon DeBot highlighted John Oliver’s funny take on how the IRS plays a fundamentally important, and often underappreciated, role in our government. Michael Leachman illustrated the ins and outs of state taxes and highlighted findings in the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s new report that show that undocumented immigrants pay a larger share of their income in state and local taxes than the richest 1 percent. For Tax Day, we rounded up all of our recent tax pieces and Roxy Caines thanked the thousands of volunteers who helped file more than 3 million tax returns for low-income households this year.
• On the safety net, Judy Solomon described smart ways that states have reduced non-emergency ER visits by Medicaid beneficiaries. Ed Bolen reported that food pantries will face additional demand as a three-month limit on SNAP benefits kicks in for unemployed, childless adults in many areas.

This week, we released a report on what food service management companies need to know about the Community Eligibility Provision. We updated our papers on the federal estate tax and "tax extenders" legislation, and we also updated our backgrounders on the federal budget process, where state tax dollars go, and unemployment compensation.

CBPP’s Video of the Week – Tax Credits Help Families at Every Stage of Life:

A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and experts recently.  Here are some highlights:

Passing the buck and hurting the poor
Washington Post
April 16, 2015

Obscure Law Shelters Property Exchanges
New York Times
April 14, 2015

States Tighten Conditions for Receiving Food Stamps as the Economy Improves
New York Times
April 11, 2015

Kansas Isn’t the Only State Turning Its Back on Poor Families
Slate
April 9, 2015

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