The case for advancing working family tax credits

Working family tax credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, provide low-income families with extra financial support to spend on basic needs and put children on the path to a brighter future. These credits are vital as inflation continues to drive up costs and the prospects of federal cuts to safety-net programs increase. A new report from the Tax Policy Center examines how changing the timing or amount of working family tax credits can increase their effectiveness:

If policymakers want to address the unmet basic needs and associated poor health among individuals in poverty, the default payment period should be monthly payments, and if policymakers are more concerned about the need for families to grow assets or purchase education, they should set the default to be a relatively large amount of money delivered as a single payment. With the addition of monthly payments, it is still possible for families to turn those payments into annual payments by adjusting their withholding, so they do not receive payments in advance.

Rep. Matthew Willard’s House Bills 133 and 337, which would increase Louisiana’s Earned Income Tax Credit and create a state-level Child Tax Credit, respectively, will be heard in the House Ways and Means Committee on Monday. Neva Butkus of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy recently joined Invest’s Didja Know? Podcast to explain the many benefits of working family tax credits. Listen here. 

Lawmakers ignore voters by reviving defeated amendment

The Louisiana Legislature is attempting to revive elements of a constitutional amendment that state voters rejected by a nearly 2 – to – 1 margin. Instead of a single amendment that rewrites the tax-and-budget article of the state constitution, lawmakers are taking a more narrow approach focused on four changes that were included in Amendment 2. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Tyler Bridges outlines the proposed changes: 

• Eliminate three education trust funds, pay off retirement debt and use much of the savings from that move to supplement salaries for teachers and support staff.
• Give parish governments the option of ending the property tax on business inventory.
• Eliminate the Revenue Stabilization Fund and use the freed-up money to fill up the rainy day fund and cover the cost of phasing out the inventory tax.
• Impose a limit on how much the state can increase spending each year on education, health care, prisons and all other government programs.

Read Invest in Louisiana’s issue brief on Amendment 2 for a refresher on why these moves would take the state in the wrong direction. 

Louisiana can’t afford federal Medicaid cuts

House Republicans advanced a budget blueprint in February that generalized how they would cut $1.5 trillion in spending in order to partially pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and large, profitable corporations. For example, the plan instructs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees the federal Medicaid program, to cut $880 billion in spending over the next 10 years. But now lawmakers must provide specifics on how they would achieve their cost-cutting goals. Louisiana Hospital Association President & CEO Paul A. Salles, in a letter to the Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate, explains why Louisiana can’t afford federal Medicaid cuts:

With Louisiana ranking fourth-lowest in median income, Louisiana’s taxpayers could not replace this federal support, leaving painful cuts to health care benefits or other services as Louisiana’s only alternative. Doctors, hospitals and other health care providers will face tough choices about the services they can provide and the job opportunities they can offer. Additionally, cutting financial support for rural hospitals will further reduce access for vulnerable families and communities. Because Louisianians cannot afford deep cuts to health care funding, please ask Congress to reject reductions to the Medicaid program and protect the physical, mental and economic health of our state.

Adult jail housing kids violates scores of regulations

In 2023, a federal judge ordered Louisiana to move juvenile offenders out of the state’s maximum security adult prison in Angola and stop holding children in adult jails. But the state failed to comply with that order, and reports quickly surfaced that the Jackson Parish Jail where children were being held was not providing the education and other programs required by law. The Appeal’s Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg explains that things haven’t gotten better:

(Office of Juvenile Justice) licensing specialists visited the jail multiple times between July and February and found the facility violated state regulations 83 times. The Appeal also received reports for an additional 11 juvenile detention facilities inspected during the same period. Jackson Parish had more violations than the combined total of those facilities and almost 12 times more than the second-worst lock-up. The Jackson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Office of Juvenile Justice did not answer a list of questions sent by The Appeal. 

Number of the Day

-0.3% – Decrease in the U.S. Gross Domestic Product during the first quarter of 2025. Economists had been predicting that the economy would grow at a 0.4% pace. (Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis)