Friday marks Juneteenth, commemorating the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas belatedly learned they were free – a full year and a half after the Emancipation Proclamation. Brakeyshia Samms of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy explains how state tax systems often still drive racial inequities:
Over the past two decades, states have repeatedly cut personal and corporate income taxes, shrinking the few progressive elements of their tax systems. To make up the difference, they have leaned more heavily on sales taxes, as well as fines and fees- revenue sources that take a larger share of income from those who have the least. Black households, who on average earn less and hold less wealth due to systemic barriers, are more likely to feel this shift.
State leaders can address inequities in their tax systems:
They can choose to decouple from costly federal corporate tax breaks and personal income tax breaks that drain revenue while offering little benefit to those who need it most. They can adopt more equitable revenue strategies, such as taxing income from wealth more effectively. They can use policy tools like worldwide combined reporting to close corporate tax loopholes that allow profits to disappear offshore.
Clawing back rural health dollars
The federal tax and budget megabill included a $50 billion fund to address rural health issues, a move to assuage concerns about how the law’s massive Medicaid cuts will impact rural hospitals. The program’s funding structure gives the federal government tight control over states’ initiatives. KFF’s Sarah Jane Tribble and Arielle Zionts explain how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services can easily clawback funding:
During the past six months, as states raced to meet the program’s looming federal deadlines, CMS staffers worked with state health departments to make a flurry of changes, including scrapping some initiatives. … [CMS Administrator Mehmet] Oz went on to describe how the clawback mechanism gives governors leverage to press their legislatures to adopt the Trump administration’s priorities, such as instituting the presidential fitness test in schools. “This gives you extra umph, a little bit of gusto to go after these issues,” he said.
The clawback threat is creating fear and confusion:
“We’re worried that facilities and organizations won’t apply for the grant money because of the fears of the clawbacks,” [CEO of the National Rural Health Association Alan Morgan] said, adding that he would like the administration to clarify if federal officials could take back grant money that states have already awarded to rural health organizations. While clawbacks are a “necessary, important tool” to address misuse of funds and ensure the money goes toward helping rural communities, they are also “a dangerous tool,” said Morgan, whose organization represents rural hospitals and clinics.
The funding from the Rural Health Transformation Program won’t be enough to offset the megabill’s estimated $137 billion cut to federal Medicaid spending in rural areas over the next decade. In total, the law cuts Medicaid by nearly a trillion dollars over the next decade.
Private school vouchers go to kids already in private schools
New analysis from the Associated Press confirms what we’ve known for some time: The majority of students who participate in private school voucher programs were already enrolled in private schools:
Alabama approved over 23,000 applications for education savings accounts last year. Fewer than half of public schoolers who were offered the scholarship used it, compared with 94% of kids who were already in private schools. And white kids were more likely to benefit than Black kids.
The vast majority of students who participated in Louisiana’s private school voucher program (LA GATOR) were already enrolled in private schools.
It’s tough to be a working dad in Louisiana
Louisiana is the second-worst state in the nation to be a working dad, only ahead of New Mexico. That’s according to a new report from WalletHub. The report grades states on 22 key indicators of support for working fathers, including life expectancy, average length of work days and median family income. WalletHub’s Adam McCann analyzes Massachusetts, the best state for working dads:
(T)he median income for families with children under 18 and a father present is $129,500 after adjusting for living costs, which is sixth-highest in the nation. Massachusetts also has the third-lowest poverty rate for kids whose father is present, at 5.1%. In addition, it has the best parental leave policies of any state, allowing fathers adequate time off work when a new child joins their family.
Number of the Day
$1,895 – Average monthly rent amount in 2026. (Source: Urban Institute via Governing)