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A note from EPI’s Kirstyn Flood: The three-month postponement by the federal government to relieve taxpayers from filing their taxes during the coronavirus pandemic is up today, Tax Day. For those taxpayers wondering how their tax dollars are spent, and how that impacts inequality, we provide an interactive tool. Speaking of spending, EPI experts weigh in on what else the federal government needs to do to aid those most vulnerable to the failing economy.
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EPI’s U.S. Tax & Spending Explorer sheds light on how the U.S. tax and spending system affects household income up and down the income distribution. The website allows users to take a deep dive into the ways that the federal government affects the inequality of households’ incomes through taxes and through spending on social insurance and safety net programs. The explorer also examines so-called “tax expenditures,” sometimes referred to as the hidden federal budget. Explore the website »
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EPI tool examines how U.S. taxes and spending affect income inequality
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The U.S. Department of Labor released the most recent unemployment insurance claims data on July 9, showing that another 1.4 million people filed for regular UI benefits the week prior and 1.0 million for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). More than 35 million people in the workforce are either receiving or have recently applied for unemployment benefits—regular or PUA. As we look at the aggregate measures of economic harm, it is also important to remember that this recession is deepening racial inequalities. To mitigate the economic harm to workers, Congress should extend the across-the-board $600 increase in weekly unemployment benefits well past its expiration at the end of July. As part of the next federal relief and recovery package, Congress should also include worker protections, investments in our democracy, resources for coronavirus testing and contact tracing, and substantial aid to state and local governments. Read the blog post »
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The coronavirus pandemic has created a severe budget crisis for state and local governments, as tax revenue has fallen precipitously while governments face extraordinary demands for public health and welfare supports. Without federal aid, many states will likely make devastating cuts to the services and staffing they provide, sending the country into a prolonged depression. If Congress does not act, the country is likely to lose millions of middle-class, family-supporting jobs that have offered particular opportunity to women and Black workers. At a time of reckoning for the deep racial divides and tremendous injustices perpetrated against Black Americans—often at the hands of government—it would be especially cruel for Congress to effectively gut one of the most meaningful sources of good jobs for Black workers in America. Read the blog post »
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In the week ending July 4, 2.4 million workers applied for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. This is the 16th week in a row that unemployment claims have been more than twice the worst week of the Great Recession. It’s important to remember that this recession is exacerbating existing racial inequalities by causing greater job loss in Black households than white households. Policymakers must do much more. For starters, they need to extend the across-the-board $600 increase in weekly unemployment benefits. Letting the extra $600 expire would be a disaster for UI recipients, who would have to drastically cut their spending, and for the economy, which is being held afloat by this spending. Letting the $600 expire would cost more than 5 million jobs over the next year. Federal lawmakers also need to provide massive aid to state and local governments. Without it, 5.3 million workers in the public and private sectors will lose their jobs by the end of 2021. Read the blog post »
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EPI hosted a panel of experts on why policy must be changed to reverse the nation’s culture of anti-Blackness and the economic inequality surrounding it. EPI Distinguished Fellow Richard Rothstein discussed his book, The Color of Law, followed by a discussion on reshaping the country into one that values Black lives and bolsters economic opportunities for all. Watch the video »
Rothstein joined the host of 1A to discuss discriminatory housing practices and the resulting economic inequality between Black and white households. | Closing the Gap: Housing Discrimination in the United States
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EPI hosted a bipartisan panel on June 1 of the nation’s top economists to discuss the urgent need for federal aid for state and local public services—including public safety, health, and education—to mitigate the economic harm caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The group of panelists, moderated by EPI President Thea Lee, took media questions about the state of our economy and discussed the importance of adequate aid to individuals, businesses, and state and local public services to speed and sustain a robust recovery. Watch the video »
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COVID-19 is acting as a magnifying glass to the deep-seated systemic inequities ever-present in the United States. EPI hosted a webinar on June 1 with the Insight Center; the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity and Race; the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights; and Economic Education. The webinar included findings from EPI’s new report on Black workers, followed by a discussion on strategies to build an inclusive economy that centers on the needs of Black and Brown women and their communities. Watch the video »
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EPI President Thea Lee joined a panel of experts on May 27 for a discussion of life after the economic crisis and what we must do to ensure a just transition. Lee; Robert Pollin, co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute; and Noam Chomsky, renowned linguist, historian, and philosopher, discussed their projections of how the crisis will unfold in the months and years to come. This webinar is a part of the Just Transition Listening Project, launched by the Labor Network for Sustainability and partners. Watch the webinar »
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EPI hosted authors William A. Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen on May 27 for a discussion of From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century. Through their assessment of the intergenerational effects of white supremacy on Black economic well-being, Darity and Mullen confront the injustices of slavery, Jim Crow, and modern-day discrimination to make the most comprehensive case to date for economic reparations for U.S. descendants of slavery. EPI economist Valerie Wilson moderated the discussion. Watch the video »
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On June 22nd, in the baking heat of a parking lot a few miles inland from Delaware’s beaches, several dozen poultry workers, many of them Black or Latino, gathered to decry the conditions at a local poultry plant owned by one of President Donald Trump’s biggest campaign contributors. Read more »
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Postponed Tax Day is here: Here’s how taxes & spending impact inequality
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