It is said that without a vision for our future we will always return to our past.
If the pandemic taught us anything it is that significant movements in policy can happen in a short period of time if there is urgency and vision.
Our tax code is the unsung hero of economic support for low-income workers and families. While progress has been made to expand tax credits, the systems of support to help families take advantage of them is, at best, not reaching its potential and at worst, deeply inequitable and inefficient.
What is the vision for the system of supports that enable families to access these important tax benefits and achieve economic security? The Tax Equity Funders Network and other futurists came together in Arlington, VA on April 19th 2023 to learn about significant, future focused ideas that could transform how families access tax credits and receive economic support. The meeting drew on a soon-to-be-published series of provocative briefs written by field experts that answer the question: What are innovations that would dramatically improve the ability of low- and moderate-income taxpayers to access all the tax benefits there are eligible for? This future-focused gathering included discussions with field leaders on these innovations and roundtable discussions with like-minded funders to outline action steps.
Featured Speakers
- Erin Currier, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
- Sam Hammond, Niskanen Center
- Francesca Jean Baptiste, CASH Campaign of MD
- David Newville, Code for America
- Nina Olson, Center for Taxpayer Rights
- Leigh Phillips, SaverLife
- Laura Scherler, United Way Worldwide
- Bryndan Stueve, United Way Worldwide
- Melanie Styles, Abell Foundation
Meeting Materials & Resources
- Agenda
- Shaping the Future Speaker Bios
- EITC FN One-Pager
- Event Deck
- Summary of Innovations
- Funding Social Change Worksheet
- Summary of Innovations Developed During the Session
Speaker Resources
1. Cash Campaign of MD
- Brief- Congressional Research Service: Prefilled Individual Income Tax Return Filing: What It Is and Policy Issues
- Report- Lack of Awareness and Confusion over Eligibility Prevented Some Families from Getting Child Tax Credit Payments
- Report- 2022 Annual Report to Congress
- Report- How Well Can Limited Data Predict Annual Tax Credits
- Resource- National Tax Payer Advocate 2023 Purple Book
- Vox Article- Over 60 million Americans have taxes so simple the IRS could do them automatically
2. Center for Taxpayer Rights
- Government Accountability Office- Paid Tax Return Preparers: In a Limited Study, Chain Preparers Made Serious Errors
- IRS Resources
- National Taxpayer Advocate Annual Reports (Legislative Recommendations)
- National Taxpayer Advocate Purple Book 2023- Pages 5-9
- Statement of Nina E. Olson- National Taxpayer Advocate, Senate Finance Comm. Hearing on Tax Return Options for Taxpayers (Apr. 4, 2006)
- Taxpayer Protection and Preparer Proficiency Act,H.R. 4184, 117th Cong. (2021)
- Taxpayer Protection and Preparer Proficiency Act, S. 1192, 116th Cong. (2019).
3. Code for America
- Blog Post- A Prototype for Free, Trustworthy Tax Filing
- Blog Post- Our Research into Closing the Tax Benefits Coverage Gap
4. SaverLife