Today the U.S. Census Bureau published its annual release of national-level statistics on income, poverty and health insurance coverage. As we wrote in our previous blog post, these statistics are based on the Current Population Survey, which is useful...
“Opportunity Zones,” But For Whom? Part of the 2017 federal tax cut bill, the “Tax Cut and Jobs Act,” created a new tax break meant to encourage investment in low-income areas. These “opportunity zones” allow for favorable capital gains...
Growing evidence shows that minimum wage increases help to increase take-home pay and reduce poverty without reducing employment. That’s why Arkansans overwhelmingly voted to raise the minimum wage in 2018. As we wrote last week, the CBO confirmed the...
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released a report analyzing the economic impact of raising the federal minimum wage to $15 in 2025. They find that a federal $15 minimum wage would boost worker pay, increase the income of...
In May, the federal government asked for comments on changing how it calculates the poverty line (read our previous blog post on this topic). The federal poverty line represents the smallest amount of money that a family will need...
Half a million Arkansas children stand to benefit United States Senators Sherrod Brown, Michael Bennet, Dick Durbin and Ron Wyden today introduced the Working Families Tax Relief Act, legislation that would begin to fix our tax laws to help...
The end is in sight! Week 12 saw a fair amount of action at the Capitol. Several committees held their final meetings this week, meaning a number of bills will not progress this session. We expect the next –...
We can close the educational achievement gap for low-income students by spending more wisely.
The following is a post from Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families Northwest Arkansas Director Laura Kellams. We’re seeing more and more evidence that Arkansas Works enrollees are confused or unaware about the new policy to cancel their health...
Earlier in the week we examined the winners and losers under the plan developed by the Arkansas Legislative Tax Reform and Tax Relief Taskforce. Today we examine the tax cut plan put forth by Governor Asa Hutchinson. Governor Asa...