In Case You Missed It...

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

• On the safety net, Sharon Parrott explained why a recent analysis by the Cato Institute arguing that people on “welfare” are better off than low-income working families is fundamentally flawed.

• On the federal budget and taxes, Richard Kogan discussed the timing of the fiscal year 2014 sequestration budget cuts.

• On state budgets and taxes, Michael Mazerov applauded a National Conference of State Legislatures’ committee for calling for an end to a loophole regarding the taxation of online hotel bookings.

In other news, we issued a commentary on the flawed Cato Institute analysis and a paper on the impact of the House leadership’s harsh SNAP proposal.  In addition, we updated our paper on the benefits of implementing a renters’ tax credit and a backgrounder on the number of weeks of unemployment benefits available in each state.

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

Food Stamp Cuts Would Deny Benefits To At Least 4 Million
Huffington Post
August 19, 2013

The Coming Food Stamp Cuts
Slate
August 19, 2013