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Livable Incomes for Families Today

Acronyms (colloquial)	LIFT
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as 3712 by Kamela Harris

Livable Incomes for Families Today is

Context

LIFT is very similar to the Earned Income Tax Credit, which has achieved bipartisan support. It comes in the wake of expansions of state-level EITC systems, including California and Maryland expanding eligibility criteria, Deleware making the credit refundable, and New Jersey increasing the amount.

By 2018, there was widespread recognition that President Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 benefited the wealthy substantially more than the average American, and it had become unpopular among Americans. LIFT was designed to have the reverse impact of these tax cuts.

Spurred by the success of Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign, which featured novel policies including free college education and single-payer healthcare, all the major 2020 Democratic presidential candidates offered substantial new social policy proposals. Politico reported that "the mood on the left is freewheeling, collaborative and ambitious" prompting substantial economic proposals such as LIFT which would previously have been "unthinkable".

In 2017 and 2018, a number of Democrats proposed substantially expanding the EITC. In addition to LIFT, Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) proposed the EITC Modernization Act, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) proposed the Grow American Incomes Now (GAIN) Act, and the Economic Security Project proposed the Working Families Tax Credit.

Reception

The program excludes the poor with no income, which may hurt its popularity with critics on the left. LIFT taps interest in universal basic income, although it is not actually universal.

Influence

In October 2018, President Trump proposed a 10% reduction in taxes for middle-class households. Ann O'Leary, a policy adviser to the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, claims these proposals were a response to LIFT, saying "She got him to pay attention, and he didn’t say 'You're a crazy spending lefty.' He said, 'You're right, and I’m gonna do it better.'"

LIFT contributed toward California governor Gavin Newsom's Working Families Tax Credit, a 2019 proposal to expand California's state-level Earned Income Tax Credit.

References

• Aurilio, Anna (2018). "Working Families Tax Credit policy details". Economic Security Project.
• Foster, Natalie; Hoene, Chris (15 January 2019). "Newsom's bold proposal - a cost-of-living refund to make California affordable". San Francisco Chronicle.
• Gallu, Joshua (20 October 2018). "Trump's Pre-Election Tax-Cut Promise Leaves GOP Leaders Baffled". Bloomberg.com.
• Mangu-Ward, Katherine (10 December 2018). "The New Socialists Didn't Win". Reason.
• McAuliffe, Colin; McElwee, Sean (15 November 2018). "Moving Beyond the Earned-Income Tax Credit". The Nation.
• Montlake, Simon (25 March 2019). "Childless workers often lose out on tax credits. Not with this program". The Christian Science Monitor.
• Newmyer, Tory (23 October 2018). "Trump's latest middle-class tax cut pitch could backfire". Washington Post.
• Robertson, Derek (1 October 2018). "Who's Winning the Democrats' Wonk Primary?". Politico.
• Tsighe, Ariam (Oct 19, 2018). "Tax Reform Friday: Earned Income Tax Credit Expansions, the New Frontier?". SALT Talk Blog.
• Werner, Erica; Paletta, Damian (23 October 2018). "Trump promises to unveil 'resolution' for middle-class tax cut in midterm messaging move". Washington Post.

Further reading

• Bell, Kay (22 October 2018). "Kamala Harris' proposed tax credit gets Trump's attention". Don't Mess With Taxes.
• Britschgi, Christian (7 January 2019). "Kamala Harris' Proposed 'Tax Cut' for the Middle Class Manages to Cost Both Money and Jobs". Reason.
• Brown, Stacy M. (25 February 2019). "Will Reparations Become Democrats' Campaign Theme?". The Charleston Chronicle.
• Da Silva, Chantal (22 February 2019). "Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren signal support for reparations for slavery". Newsweek.
• Davis, Aidan (24 October 2018). "Shaking up TCJA: How a Proposed New Credit Could Shift Federal Tax Cuts from the Wealthy and Corporations to Working People". Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
• Davison, Laura; Browning, Lynnley (24 October 2018). "Kamala Harris Tax Plan Would Cost $2.8 Trillion, Conservative Group Says". Bloomberg.
• Doyle, Karen (12 February 2019). "Kamala Harris' New Tax Plan Creates a Safety Net for Middle-Income Americans - but Will It Work?". GOBankingRates.
• Gleckman, Howard (14 November 2018). "Kamala Harris's Plan Would Cut Taxes For Many But Could Add Trillions To The Debt". Forbes.
• "Harris Proposes Bold Relief for Families Amid Rising Costs of Living". U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California. 18 October 2018.
• "Harris' First Action of 116th Congress: Re-introducing Tax Cut for Middle Class". U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California. 3 January 2019. Also published in the Los Angeles Sentinel.
• Hunter-Hart, Monica (18 October 2018). "Kamala Harris Released A Bold Tax Reform Proposal Aimed At Saving You Money". Bustle.
• LeTourneau, Nancy (5 February 2019). "To reduce income inequality, lift up those on the bottom". Washington Monthly.
• Lea, Brittany De (19 October 2018). "Democrat pushes big payouts for working-class Americans". Fox Business.
• Leff, Benjamin M. (2019). "EITC For All: A Universal Basic Income Compromise Proposal". Washington & Lee Journal of Civil Rights & Social Justice. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3338468. ISSN 1556-5068.
• Lowrey, Annie (18 October 2018). "Kamala Harris's Trump-Size Tax Plan". The Atlantic.
• Luhby, Tami (28 January 2019). "Harris tax plan focuses on middle class relief, not the ultra-rich". CNN.
• Maag, Elaine (18 October 2018). "Senator Harris Seeks To Raise Incomes Using A New Tax Credit". Tax Policy Center. Also published by Forbes.
• Matthews, Dylan (30 January 2019). "5 anti-poverty plans from 2020 Democratic presidential contenders, explained". Vox.
• Rainey, Michael (19 October 2018). "Kamala Harris' Trillion-Dollar Tax Plan". The Fiscal Times.
• Rainey, Michael (25 October 2018). "Putting a Price Tag on Sen. Kamala Harris' Working-Class Tax Cut". The Fiscal Times.
• Rosenberg, Joshua (1 January 2019). "Federal Tax Legislation Issues To Watch In 2019". Law360.
• Sawhill, Isabel V.; Pulliam, Christopher (15 January 2019). "Lots of plans to boost tax credits: which is best?". Brookings.
• "Senator Harris' LIFT the Middle Class Act (November 2018)". Tax Policy Center. 14 November 2018.
• Snively, Ian (18 March 2019). "Kamala Harris's LIFT Act Could Bring Down the Spirit of the Middle Class". Townhall.
• The Cook Center on Social Equity (18 October 2018). "Senator Kamala D. Harris Proposes Bold Relief for Families Amid Rising Costs of Living".
• Ting, Eric (19 October 2018). "Kamala Harris proposes bill to repeal GOP tax cuts, give money to working class families". SFGate. Hearst.
• "U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris Re-introduces the LIFT (Livable Incomes for Families Today) the Middle Class Act – A Tax Cut for the Middle Class". Sierra Sun Times. 3 January 2019.
• Vance, Lawrence M. (23 January 2019). "Kamala Harris Must Be a Republican". LewRockwell.com.
• Washington Post Editorial Board (26 November 2018). "How Democrats can rewrite the tax code to be more egalitarian - and responsible". Washington Post.
• Wright, Sarafina (18 October 2018). "Senator Harris Proposes Bold Tax Breaks for the Middle Class". Ebony.
• "'People In This Country Do Not Start From The Same Place'". The Postglob. 22 February 2019.

External links

• https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/3712
• https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/4

Category:Personal taxes in the United States Category:Tax credits Category:Tax terms Category:Taxation and redistribution Category:United States proposed federal taxation legislation‎ Category:Welfare in the United States