Latest news with #WorkingFamiliesTaxCredit
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Expanding a Washington tax credit could be a prescription to help lower-income patients
(Photo by The) People expect their doctors to give them vaccines, medications, or surgeries, but what do you prescribe when someone's health problem is poverty? In my 34 years as a pediatrician, many parents have told me: 'You can't help me with some of the problems that I have.' Many are single parents working two or three jobs to raise multiple children. How can I tell someone to buy more nutritious food when they already don't eat so their children can? As a clinician, it can be hard to talk to families about money, but people need access to tangible resources. For me, solutions like tax credits that put money directly into people's hands make good sense. As tax day approaches, some of my patients will soon get a few thousand dollars back from the federal Earned Income Tax Credit and Washington's Working Families Tax Credit. These resources make a big difference in people's lives, and there is more that Washington state can do to help families that we see every day in our clinics and hospitals. People in my field know that the Pacific Northwest has been a leader in public health. However, our tax code structure is incongruous with how progressive we have been in health policy. In Washington, people with the lowest incomes pay about three times more of their incomes in state taxes than the wealthiest do. This leaves families struggling to afford the basics and our public services chronically underfunded. Not only are tax credits one of the most important ways of righting our inequitable tax system, but they are also one of the most effective ways to help working people address their social needs. Unlike more conditional forms of aid, people have control over this money and can use it as they see fit — on groceries, rent, or book supplies for their children. More cash in people's pockets means better health outcomes, better educational outcomes for children and teens, better maternal health outcomes, and less chronic illnesses down the line. So as families are doing their taxes, lawmakers in Olympia could consider ways to improve our state Working Families Tax Credit. They could raise the payment amounts, especially for single filers. They could switch to simpler or even automated payments, as only about half of families receive the money they are eligible for. And they could expand eligibility so that more people across the state can get cash back. One proposed expansion would remove the age restriction that leaves out 100,000 young adults and seniors who live in poverty. Under the current rules, people without children must be 25 to 65 years old to claim their tax credit. There's a misconception among many well-to-do and educated people that young people rely on their families for support. However, one in 10 young adults experiences homelessness each year, and young adults face some of the highest rates of poverty in the US. Our foster care system also ends at 18. The lack of stability in these children's lives has made it difficult for them to be independent at such a young age. On the other side of the age spectrum, one in 10 of our seniors lives in poverty. That's shameful for our country, the wealthiest in the world. A lot of grandparents who come through my office have stepped in to care for their grandchildren. The children are being raised by a grandparent who is often tired and may be dealing with their own health problems. Having already been through a lifetime of sacrifices, they often can't afford the pair of soccer cleats or the after-school program that would help their grandchildren follow their dreams and build social skills. If people are struggling to make ends meet day to day, they will have a hard time focusing on education, employment, and health. By expanding successful programs like the Working Families Tax Credit and raising progressive revenue, we can help people rise out of poverty. Poverty is not a fixed condition — it can be a temporary setback that we help people get through. With just a little effort, we can bridge the gap for our friends and neighbors.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lawmakers in both chambers adopt tax compromise in session's final hours
Rep. Derrick Lente (D-Sandia Pueblo) and Sen. Carrie Hamblen (D-Las Cruces) said they appreciated the cooperation on the tax package negotiations in the session's final hours. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM) The House and Senate both adopted a compromise tax package on a voice vote late in both chambers Friday night, after hours of negotiations and a failed vote earlier in the day on the multimillion dollar tax package. The conference committee mended the rift exposed between chambers over the tax package on Thursday — just later than expected. At about 9 p.m. the heads of the tax committees, Rep. Derrick Lente (D-Sandia Pueblo) and Sen. Carrie Hamblen (D-Las Cruces), presented a much smaller package of benefits, and eliminated a new tax on oil that had previously funded the whole measure. Instead, the Legislature will pay for the $113 million dollar compromise package of tax credits from the state's reserves, which will be pulled from next year's budget. Lente said other options were considered, but ultimately discarded, because of the time crunch of mere hours left in the session. In the compromise package: an Earned Income Tax Credit for lower-income single people and families; removal of gross receipts tax on medical services; a 20% increase in liquor at the wholesale price expected to generate $10 million a year for a tribal alcohol alleviation fund; and a tax credit for foster parents and guardians caring for children. What didn't make the cut: 0.28% tax on oil paired with a reduction in natural gas taxes contained in House Bill 548 expected to generate $130 million in revenue; and a series of other tax credits for emergency responders, search and rescue, publishers and newspaper printers and quantum facilities. The increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit will benefit the approximately 200,000 who qualify currently for the Working Families Tax Credit and expand to about 100,000 more New Mexicans, Lente said. The credit allows people making minimum wage, to families of three up to $70,000 annual income to not pay state income taxes. 'That's a far reaching, very broad benefit that we would be able to protect in this tax package,' Lente said Friday evening. Hamblen said the pieces that failed to make it into this year's package will be reconsidered in the future. 'I think we've got this really great foundation,' she said. 'We've got our hopes and dreams of what we need to look at next year and I'm excited about that.' Rep. Mark Duncan (R-Kirtland) was the lone vote against the package, saying he thought using reserves to pay for the tax package was 'a bad way to do business,' and noted the Legislature was paying $171 million from reserves to balance the budget this year, in addition to the tax package. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House committee ties tax credit for working class to oil tax hike
A House committee has advanced a bill to cut or even eliminate state income taxes for many working New Mexicans — but also added a tax hike for oil producers, stirring opposition from Republicans and the industry. To cap a day of setbacks for oil and gas, another House committee voted later Friday to advance a measure to increase the royalty rate, or a charge oil producers pay based on the value of oil or gas they extract. House Bill 14, which passed the House Taxation and Revenue Committee on a 7-5 vote Friday morning and now heads to the full House, would replace the state's Working Families Tax Credit with an Earned Income Tax Credit, eliminating state income tax liability for single people making less than $25,000 a year and childless married couples making less than $30,000 a year. The thresholds go up with the number of children; married couples with three children would need to make more than $70,000 a year to have any tax liability. The amendment would add an extra 0.28% "oil and gas equalization surtax" when crude prices are $55 a barrel or more, which when added to the existing tax effectively raises the rate to 3.4%, said Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, who chairs the House Taxation and Revenue Committee. This would bring in an extra $130 million a year, he told the committee. It would also cut the rate on natural gas producers by one-tenth of 1% to 3.9%, which would reduce the amount collected from them by $11 million a year. "For several years now, we have cut taxes for working people and made our tax code more reflective of our state's values,' Lente said in a statement Friday. 'Today, we are doubling down on our investments in workers and families, while making sure that the industry profiting from the extraction of our state's natural resources pays its fair share.' The amendment had its origins in House Bill 548, introduced by Rep. Nathan Small D-Las Cruces, chair of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee. As originally written, the measure would have boosted the tax on oil to 4% to make it the same as natural gas. Lente said the amendment was a response to concerns with the original proposal. 'The fact of the matter is, he listens," Lente said. "We listen. We listened.' Supporters of HB 14 said it makes sense to use revenue from a wealthy industry to cut taxes for less-wealthy New Mexicans. Camilla Feibelman, director of the Sierra Club's Rio Grande chapter, said natural resources such as oil and gas belong to the public and are mostly drilled on public lands. "We stand in strong support of ensuring that those natural resources support our families first and foremost," she said. Democrats framed the tax credit as a way to help during a time of economic uncertainty amid rising prices rise and increasing odds of a recession. 'We don't know how unaffordable life will become over the next few years, so New Mexico is stepping up to ensure that you can keep more of your hard-earned money so that you can afford staples from food, medicine, health care ... energy, whatever the case may be, said House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque. Opponents mostly didn't object to the tax credit but to the tax increase on oil producers, which they worried would be passed on to consumers and hurt producers or even drive some out of the state. "We say we love this industry, but at this point, I think there's been over 23 bills that have negatively impacted this industry that have come through this body" this session, said Rep. Jonathan Henry, R-Artesia. 'The more that break-even price goes up, the quicker the industry shuts down,' Henry said. 'When that industry shuts down, what happens to our budget in New Mexico?' Some questioned the wisdom of tying 'an ongoing tax credit to volatile oil and gas revenues,' as Alison Riley, public policy director of the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce, put it. 'The chamber is proud to support working families, but with $3 billion in new revenue, there is plenty to fund priority programs ... without a tax increase,' said Terri Cole, president and CEO of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. In a statement after the vote, the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association said HB 14 was "originally a good bill" that was "hijacked." "Instead of raising taxes, the Legislature should prioritize policies that drive down consumer costs, foster economic growth and diversification, and protect the energy workers that are the backbone of many communities across our state," said Missi Currier, the organization's president and CEO. Senate Bill 23, which the House Appropriations and Finance Committee voted 9-8 to advance Friday evening, increases the maximum royalty rate from 20% of the value of the oil or natural gas to 25% in certain areas. That hike, according to a Legislative Finance Committee analysis, could generate from $50 million to $75 million in additional revenue to the state's land grant permanent fund. A separate State Land Office analysis estimated it could eventually boost additional annual revenues by $50 million to as much as $84 million. State Land Office Deputy Commissioner of Operations Sunalei Stewart said 25% royalty rates are already relatively standard for oil production on private lands, including in New Mexico, and that the agency has a legal obligation to charge oil companies the market rate for public resources. 'This is not anti-oil and gas. This industry contributes a tremendous amount, and we appreciate that — the school kids benefit,' he told lawmakers. 'But it is our job to ensure that we're getting that market rate.' However, industry advocates and Republican lawmakers worried the bill would contribute to driving oil and gas companies away. 'It almost seems punitive to me,' said Rep. Harlan Vincent, R-Glencoe. '... We're not treating oil and gas like we should be treating oil and gas.' Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, said the state's exceptional land parcels for oil production would help keep companies here, noting that even if their expenses were a little higher, their profits would be high too. 'We're talking about the best of the best, which are not only the best in the Permian [Basin], but potentially some of the best in the world,' he said. '... It has never once been suggested that these parcels would not find willing bidders.' New Mexican reporter Esteban Candelaria contributed.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House committee ties tax credit for working class to oil tax hike
A House committee has advanced a bill to cut or even eliminate state income taxes for many working New Mexicans — but also added a tax hike for oil producers, stirring opposition from Republicans and the industry. To cap a day of setbacks for oil and gas, another House committee voted later Friday to advance a measure to increase the royalty rate, or a charge oil producers pay based on the value of oil or gas they extract. House Bill 14, which passed the House Taxation and Revenue Committee on a 7-5 vote Friday morning and now heads to the full House, would replace the state's Working Families Tax Credit with an Earned Income Tax Credit, eliminating state income tax liability for single people making less than $25,000 a year and childless married couples making less than $30,000 a year. The thresholds go up with the number of children; married couples with three children would need to make more than $70,000 a year to have any tax liability. The amendment would add an extra 0.28% "oil and gas equalization surtax" when crude prices are $55 a barrel or more, which when added to the existing tax effectively raises the rate to 3.4%, said Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, who chairs the House Taxation and Revenue Committee. This would bring in an extra $130 million a year, he told the committee. It would also cut the rate on natural gas producers by one-tenth of 1% to 3.9%, which would reduce the amount collected from them by $11 million a year. "For several years now, we have cut taxes for working people and made our tax code more reflective of our state's values,' Lente said in a statement Friday. 'Today, we are doubling down on our investments in workers and families, while making sure that the industry profiting from the extraction of our state's natural resources pays its fair share.' The amendment had its origins in House Bill 548, introduced by Rep. Nathan Small D-Las Cruces, chair of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee. As originally written, the measure would have boosted the tax on oil to 4% to make it the same as natural gas. Lente said the amendment was a response to concerns with the original proposal. 'The fact of the matter is, he listens," Lente said. "We listen. We listened.' Supporters of HB 14 said it makes sense to use revenue from a wealthy industry to cut taxes for less-wealthy New Mexicans. Camilla Feibelman, director of the Sierra Club's Rio Grande chapter, said natural resources such as oil and gas belong to the public and are mostly drilled on public lands. "We stand in strong support of ensuring that those natural resources support our families first and foremost," she said. Democrats framed the tax credit as a way to help during a time of economic uncertainty amid rising prices rise and increasing odds of a recession. 'We don't know how unaffordable life will become over the next few years, so New Mexico is stepping up to ensure that you can keep more of your hard-earned money so that you can afford staples from food, medicine, health care ... energy, whatever the case may be, said House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque. Opponents mostly didn't object to the tax credit but to the tax increase on oil producers, which they worried would be passed on to consumers and hurt producers or even drive some out of the state. "We say we love this industry, but at this point, I think there's been over 23 bills that have negatively impacted this industry that have come through this body" this session, said Rep. Jonathan Henry, R-Artesia. 'The more that break-even price goes up, the quicker the industry shuts down,' Henry said. 'When that industry shuts down, what happens to our budget in New Mexico?' Some questioned the wisdom of tying 'an ongoing tax credit to volatile oil and gas revenues,' as Alison Riley, public policy director of the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce, put it. 'The chamber is proud to support working families, but with $3 billion in new revenue, there is plenty to fund priority programs ... without a tax increase,' said Terri Cole, president and CEO of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. In a statement after the vote, the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association said HB 14 was "originally a good bill" that was "hijacked." "Instead of raising taxes, the Legislature should prioritize policies that drive down consumer costs, foster economic growth and diversification, and protect the energy workers that are the backbone of many communities across our state," said Missi Currier, the organization's president and CEO. Senate Bill 23, which the House Appropriations and Finance Committee voted 9-8 to advance Friday evening, increases the maximum royalty rate from 20% of the value of the oil or natural gas to 25% in certain areas. That hike, according to a Legislative Finance Committee analysis, could generate from $50 million to $75 million in additional revenue to the state's land grant permanent fund. A separate State Land Office analysis estimated it could eventually boost additional annual revenues by $50 million to as much as $84 million. State Land Office Deputy Commissioner of Operations Sunalei Stewart said 25% royalty rates are already relatively standard for oil production on private lands, including in New Mexico, and that the agency has a legal obligation to charge oil companies the market rate for public resources. 'This is not anti-oil and gas. This industry contributes a tremendous amount, and we appreciate that — the school kids benefit,' he told lawmakers. 'But it is our job to ensure that we're getting that market rate.' However, industry advocates and Republican lawmakers worried the bill would contribute to driving oil and gas companies away. 'It almost seems punitive to me,' said Rep. Harlan Vincent, R-Glencoe. '... We're not treating oil and gas like we should be treating oil and gas.' Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, said the state's exceptional land parcels for oil production would help keep companies here, noting that even if their expenses were a little higher, their profits would be high too. 'We're talking about the best of the best, which are not only the best in the Permian [Basin], but potentially some of the best in the world,' he said. '... It has never once been suggested that these parcels would not find willing bidders.' New Mexican reporter Esteban Candelaria contributed.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Washington carbon auction prices rise again
(Photo by Getty Images) Prices for air pollution allowances under Washington's cap-and-trade law climbed again at the state's first auction of the year. The Department of Ecology on Wednesday said allowances the state offered on March 5 sold for $50 each. That's about 24% higher than the $40.26 sale price at the previous auction in December. The latest sales will net another $230 million for the state. It's the second auction in a row where prices were up, following a slump before voters rejected a ballot measure last year that could have repealed the law. Prices last September fell below $30 after rising above $50 and even $60 in some cases the prior year. Since the auctions under the Climate Commitment Act began in 2023, they've generated about $2.8 billion in state revenue. Businesses in Washington that produce large amounts of carbon emissions must meet a cap on that pollution set by the state or purchase the allowances. Rebounding prices will be welcome news for Democrats in the Legislature who are grappling with a shortfall in the state's operating budget estimated to be between $12 billion and $15 billion over four years, along with a $1 billion gap in the next two-year transportation budget. There's likely to be more debate in the weeks ahead on how to use Climate Commitment Act revenue. Republicans this week proposed diverting a share to fund the Working Families Tax Credit — a tax refund for lower-income state residents. The lead budget writer for Senate Democrats has rejected the idea. This story will be updated.
