Home heating assistance seen at record high, By Jonathan Fahey (AP), San Jose Mercury News: “High energy prices, high unemployment and a cold winter are prompting a record number of households to seek home heating assistance. The National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association will announce Wednesday that 8.9 million households are expected to qualify for financial help this winter, up from 8.3 million last winter. It’s the third year in a row the number of households needing assistance has set a new high. The chief reason is the economy, according to Mark Wolfe, Executive Director of NEADA. ‘We have this group who weren’t poor before the recession, who are poor now and scrambling for whatever they can get,’ Wolfe says. ‘It’s a tough situation.’ Congress doubled funding for the program, called Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, to $5.1 billion two years ago and matched that level last year. Congressional Republicans are expected to try to pare that back during budget negotiations next week…”
Day: February 9, 2011
States and Unemployment Benefit Funds
Obama plans to rescue states with debt burdens, By Michael Cooper and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, February 8, 2011, New York Times: “President Obama is proposing to ride to the rescue of states that have borrowed billions of dollars from the federal government to continue paying unemployment benefits during the economic downturn. His plan would give the states a two-year breather before automatic tax increases would hit employers, and before states would have to start paying interest on the loans. The proposal, which administration officials said would be included in the 2012 budget that the president is scheduled to unveil next week, was greeted coolly by Republicans on Capitol Hill, who warned that the plan would ultimately force many states to raise their unemployment taxes in the years to come. But the White House is calculating that the proposal will ultimately appeal to Republicans because it involves a tax moratorium right now for hard-hit states during a still-fragile economic recovery…”
State Earned Income Tax Credit – Michigan
Bill would eliminate state tax credit for working poor, By Karen Bouffard, February 8, 2011, Detroit News: “Tax credits for Michigan’s working poor would be eliminated under a bill introduced in the state Senate today. The bill to repeal the state earned income tax credit (EITC) was met with strong opposition by Democrats and family advocates, who said it would amount to a tax increase for low income workers. The bill was introduced by Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, who said Michigan can’t afford the $370 million cost. If the bill passes in the Senate and House, and is signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder, the credit would be eliminated at the end of this calendar year…”