Supports for young children and working parents take hit in both Senate and House budget proposals

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June 20, 2014
In Uncategorized

Both the Senate and House Budget proposals leave much to be desired when it comes to ensuring that young children’s needs are supported and that they are in safe, enriching learning environments. Both proposals require cuts to four of North Carolina’s 16 child development agencies and fail to make up for lost ground in funding pre-K slots. While both the House and Senate Budget proposals add $5 million for additional pre-k slots, the funding is one time money meaning the slots expire after one year. It’s important to remember as well, that it doesn’t make up for the 2,400 slots that were lost in the budget passed last year.

In each proposal, troubling changes are also recommended to the income eligibility for the state’s child care subsidy program, which means about 12,000 children served last year would no longer be eligible according to legislative fiscal staff. The Child Care Subsidy program serves a two-fold purpose by both acting as a work support so parents can maintain employment and provide for their family, and to help families afford access to high quality child care so their children receive the early education they need to succeed in life.

The high cost of child care makes it difficult for many parents who work to obtain good quality care. In fact, child care is often the highest monthly expense for a family, with an average annual cost of full-time center care for one child at about $8,500 a year. Currently, the child care subsidy program provides families who earn less than 75% of the state median income (SMI; $42,201 for a family of three) the opportunity to ensure a safe, quality child care setting for their children while they work. Given the high cost of care, the federal government allows for states to qualify families up to 85% of the SMI, although most states, including North Carolina fall below this benchmark.

Instead of maintaining eligibility levels, and even increasing them as the federal directive allows, both the Senate and House budget proposals go in the opposite direction by reducing eligibility to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL; $39,060 for a family of three) for children 0-5 years old. Both proposals reduce eligibility even further for children 6-13 years old to 133% of FPL ($25,975 for a family of three). This means that to qualify to receive subsidies you have to earn less, even though families who earn up to 75% of the SMI still often can’t afford child care. As a result, fewer families will be able to access this critical support to help parents maintain work and help children be safe and successful in school. The impact on school age children is particularly damaging where the most drastic eligibility reduction is implemented. School age children with working parents still need before and after school care, as well as care during summer to ensure their safety and provide enrichment. When families can’t afford this care they are faced with leaving children home alone or in unsafe settings, missing work and potentially losing a job.

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NC Budget Magnifying Glass: Senate budget brings greater hardship to struggling working families with proposed changes to child care subsidy system

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June 4, 2014
In NC Budget and Tax Center

This is the third post of a Budget and Tax Center blog series on public services and programs that face cuts in the budget process or have been underfunded in past years. See the other posts here and here.

The Senate Budget proposal makes significant changes to North Carolina’s child care subsidy program, and not in a good way. In fact it kicks some families off the program. Essentially the Senate eliminates many of the best practices in child care subsidy policy, which results in making it more difficult for working families to access child care. The Child Care Subsidy program provides an opportunity for low-income working parents to access affordable and safe child care while they are supporting their family. As many parents know, child care is often the highest monthly expense for a family, with an average annual cost of full-time center care for one child at about $8,500 a year. The high cost of child care prices many low and middle income families out of the market, which could make it difficult for a parent to get and keep a job, or be forced to choose an unsafe care setting.

Enter the child care subsidy program, which currently provides families who earn less than 75% of the state median income (SMI; about 50,000 a year for a family of four) the opportunity to ensure a safe, quality child care setting for their children while they work. For some parents, the current system also provides a sliding scale for co-payments that decreases as the family size increases. While the program is extremely beneficial both in ensuring healthy early childhood development and allowing parents to work and sustain their family, the funding has been inadequate over the years, leaving over 15,000 eligible North Carolina families on a waiting list as of May, 2014, for months and even years. Read about Lex’s story from Western North Carolina whose children languished on the waiting list for over three years.

A magnifying glass is indeed needed to understand how the Senate budget changes the program because it claims to be revenue neutral and to reduce the number of children on the waiting list. So let’s take a look. The Senate changes eligibility for the program from 75% of the SMI to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level ($47,700 for a family of four) for children ages 0-5 years. This means that to qualify to receive subsidies you have to earn less, even though families who earn up to 75% of the SMI still often can’t afford child care. The Senate further reduces eligibility for families with children ages 6-13 years to 133% of the Federal Poverty Level (about $32,000 for a family of four). The sliding scale is also eliminated, meaning that families with larger family sizes, and thus expenses, have to pay the same copay as families with smaller family sizes. Co-payments are also no longer reduced for partial day care. For some families, the changes in co-payment will price them out of the market, meaning parents could lose jobs or kids could go to unsafe care settings.

The Senate’s proposed changes to the child care subsidy program are just another example of robbing Peter to pay Paul. While they may keep the program revenue neutral, they’re kicking families out by changing eligibility and co-pay levels to do it. And the only way they’re reducing the waiting list is by eliminating those families on the waiting list who are eligible at the current levels that will no longer be eligible with a lower income eligibility threshold. They’re also decreasing state dollars by relying on more federal dollars available through block grants. It’s unclear what the associated impact will be to other block grant-funded programs. A better way forward would be to ensure that all North Carolina’s families who can’t afford care (which according to federal standards could be families earning up to 85% SMI) receive help to support their ability to work and their children’s ability to learn in the critical early years.

 

North Carolina can make tax system more fair by reinstating its state Earned Income Tax Credit

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May 15, 2014
In NC Budget and Tax Center

It comes as no surprise to working families that North Carolina’s tax system is fundamentally unfair. Families who make less than $47,000 a year pay, on average, nearly 2 times more of their income in state and local taxes than those making more than $345,000. But taxpayers don’t have to accept this fundamental unfairness. One of the best ways for our state to improve the fairness of its tax structure is through reinstating a refundable Earned Income Tax Credit.

A new report, Improving Tax Fairness with a State Earned Income Tax Credit, by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows just how effective a refundable Earned Income Tax credit (EITC) can be in counteracting North Carolina’s upside-down tax code.

Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia already have some version of a state EITC. Most state EITCs are based on some percentage of the federal EITC. The federal EITC was introduced in 1975 and provides targeted tax reductions to low-income workers to reward work and boost income. The federal EITC has targeted income limits to restrict eligibility and better support beneficiaries. By all accounts, the federal EITC has been wildly successful, increasing workforce participation and helping 6.5 million Americans escape poverty in 2012, including 3.3 million children.

In the same vein, states should look to the EITC to improve tax fairness.

North Carolina took that important step in 2007 by establishing an EITC at 3 percent of the federal credit which then subsequently increased to 5 percent. The average refundable state EITC is equal to 16 percent of the federal credit. When state lawmakers allowed our state EITC to expire after 2013, North Carolina had a refundable EITC at 4.5% of the federal credit, well below the average. In North Carolina, as in most states, it would take a fairly significant EITC to begin to offset the upside down nature of state tax codes.

As discussed in this report, lawmakers in Raleigh can take immediate steps to address the inherent unfairness in the tax code by reinstating a refundable state EITC. Ultimately, lawmakers should not only reinstate NC’s EITC but work to make it a higher percent of the federal credit. While it would cost revenue to reinstate North Carolina’s EITC, such revenue could be raised by repealing tax breaks that benefit wealthy taxpayers and corporations, which in turn would also improve the fairness of our state’s tax system.

 

States take steps to strengthen EITC, meanwhile in North Carolina . . . .

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May 6, 2014
In NC Budget and Tax Center

In the past week lawmakers in Connecticut and Maryland have taken steps to strengthen their state Earned Income Tax Credit. And by strengthened, we’re talking increasing the state’s EITC from 25% to 28% of the federal EITC. Meanwhile, North Carolina prepares to enter a legislative short session next week where lawmakers can boast to the claim of being the only state in the nation to eliminate the EITC in nearly 30 years.

North Carolina’s state EITC was a modest boost (starting at only 3.5% of the federal EITC in its inaugural year in 2007 and topping out at 5%) , but no doubt provided an extra couple hundred dollars in the pockets of working poor families to help pay the bills and put food on the table. On the whole, working families in all 100 counties of North Carolina infused over $100 million into the state’s economy in 2012 by spending their EITC to meet immediate needs.

Further, the EITC is one of the most effective child anti-poverty tools in the nation, with the federal EITC alone lifting almost 300,000 North Carolinians out of poverty, half of them children. Paired with a strong state EITC, families who work hard and yet still struggle to get by in difficult times can have the extra boost they need at tax time to make a needed car repair so they can get to work reliably, or pay a utility bill to keep the power on.

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New poll reveals public willingness to raise teacher salaries to national average through tax revenue

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February 5, 2014
In NC Budget and Tax Center

When it comes to educating our children, the public is pretty clear in understanding you get what you pay for.

In a recent poll released by High Point University, 72% of respondents said they would favor a tax increase to raise teacher pay in North Carolina to the national average. These results are similar to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted in November which revealed that 68% of North Carolinians opposed cutting funding for public schools to provide taxpayers a tax cut.

Despite North Carolinians’ willingness to pay to ensure adequate funding of our public schools so that children can be better prepared for a 21st century economy, legislators moved in the opposite direction this past legislative session. Not only were teachers, whose salaries ranked 46th in the nation in 2012, denied a pay increase this year, but the salary incentive for teachers who earn master’s degree was eliminated and additional cuts were made to professional development and recruitment programs.

The legislature further undermined the ability of public education to prepare children for their future by reducing funds available for instructional supplies and textbooks, increasing teacher to student ratios and cutting funding for teacher assistants.

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