Page 117 - Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality

children facing hunger, providing an average of $426 per household with children per month for groceries . Over 3 million New Yorkers (16 percent of the population) relied on SNAP benefits in 2014,26 with about 80 percent of all eligible persons participating .27
According to the CDF’s report, an increase in the federal budget for SNAP benefits would have the second largest effect in New York and would result in a 15.7 percent reduction in child poverty.28 Federal cuts in SNAP benefits in 2013 and 2014 hurt many families and increased the number of food- insecure households . While recent state level investments for aid to emergency food providers have helped alleviate immediate hunger needs, additional funding for expanding eligibility and streamlining application processes can help improve access to food stamps . New York can increase access to SNAP by raising the Gross Income Test level (currently set at 130 percent of poverty) for working families or families with children up to 18 who do not incur dependent care costs . It can also increase participation by sharing eligibility information across benefit programs to make it easier for families to apply to SNAP .
Expand the refundable state EITC: The federal EITC is a refundable tax credit that is one of the nation’s most effective tools for reducing child poverty among working families . It encourages work by providing a credit to low-income working families and increases with higher earnings up to a maximum . A substantial body of research shows that the federal EITC provides work, income, educational, and health benefits to its recipients and their children .29 According to the CDF’s report, expanding the federal EITC would have the third largest impact of the policy improvements in New York, reducing child poverty in the state by 14.5 percent .30 New York currently is one of about half of the states that also offers a state EITC that builds on the federal credit—offering a refundable 30 percent state credit .31
While New York’s most recent budget does not include an increase for the State EITC, the EITC is one of the best ways to “make work pay” for low-income families . The EITC also positively impacts children: research shows that the children of EITC recipients do better in school and are healthier . At a time when income inequality in New York continues to grow, it is important that the State support working families by increasing the EITC to 40 percent of the federal benefit . According to the Fiscal Policy Institute, by increasing the EITC to 40 percent of the federal benefit, New York State would effectively increase EITC benefits by one-third for all recipients . The average NYS EITC benefit would rise from about $690 to $920, an increase of $230, at a cost of about $370 million . Such an increase would provide a much-needed boost to the incomes of 1 .6 million low- and moderate-income families and improve the well-being and life chances for two million children .32
26 food research & acTion cenTer, snap (2015), available at http://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/snapdata2014_ nov.pdf.
27 usda, reaching Those in need: esTimaTes of sTaTe supplemenTal nuTriTion assisTance program parTicipaTion raTes in 2012 (Feb. 2015), available at http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/ops/Reaching2012.pdf.
28 CDF Report, supra note 13, at 45.
29 marr, supra note 12.
30 CDF Report, supra note 13, at 45.
31 Id. at 46.
32 NYS Can Help Low-income Working Families with Children by Increasing its Earned Income Tax Credit, fiscal policy insTiTuTe (2014), http://fiscalpolicy.org/nys-can-help-low-income-working-families-with-children-by-increasing-its-eitc.
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