Thread: Broad stimulus payments in #COVID19 response bill (some call them “Recovery Rebates”) need to *get to* people who don’t file tax returns — including many low-income people, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities — not just to tax filers. 1/
That means two things:
1. Policymakers need to make everyone up to some income limit eligible for the payments and... 2/
1. Policymakers need to make everyone up to some income limit eligible for the payments and... 2/
2. They must enact delivery mechanisms that reach people automatically to the maximum extent possible. Without such delivery mechanisms, millions will be left out, including many who need the payments the most. 3/
On ELIGIBILITY: adults and children should be eligible for a stimulus payment whether they file a tax return or not, with no “minimum income” test. 4/
It also means not leaving out immigrants. We should not be parsing immigration status during a pandemic and resulting economic crisis – a time when it’s even more obvious we are all in this together. 5/
On DELIVERY: stimulus payments should go to everyone who files taxes (& people in their household) AND *automatically* to people who don’t have to file a tax return but receive a benefit administered by the federal or state governments. 6/
Why is AUTOMATIC so important? We don’t want to miss people by making them file for taxes if they don’t otherwise have to or fill out an intimidating form. A filing requirement would mean millions get left out. 7/
It will be harder for seniors, people with disabilities, & stressed parents with kids home from school to get help with new forms when many community orgs & schools are closed. 8/
And it clearly would not be responsible to make people – especially vulnerable groups -- try to get help filing forms during a pandemic. 9/
Fortunately, we *can* get stimulus payments to people who don’t file tax returns without making them fill out forms – through both federal agencies and the states. 10/
FEDERAL agencies have up-to-date contact & banking info for people receiving benefits like Social Security, veterans’ benefits, and Supplemental Security Income. 11/
Federal agencies & the IRS can match their data, and anyone receiving assistance from one of these programs (but who is not in a household that filed taxes) can get the stimulus payment with no extra form needed. 12/
In addition, STATES have up-to-date information for everyone receiving SNAP, Medicaid, TANF and the like. 13/
States can match their data on recipients with federal data and deliver payments to state beneficiaries left out of the stimulus payments provided through the federal delivery mechanisms. 14/
States already conduct these types of matches with federal data bases for various eligibility processes and can readily do them. 15/
States would deliver the stimulus payments to these households and get reimbursed by the federal government. Households wouldn’t need to file extra, unnecessary paperwork. More $ would get into the economy faster – and into the hands of households who need it. 16/
Some people will still be left out, though many fewer. Those still left out should have an option to file a simple form. 17/
Is it easier to only send payments to people who file a tax return? Of course it is. But the moment doesn’t call for easy – it calls for doing the right thing when we can, to help both people and the economy. 18/
More here on key policies we urgently need to respond to the grave economic risks we face: cbpp.org/research/econo… FIN
Here is my latest on direct stimulus payments in a #new blog: cbpp.org/blog/low-incom…
