Making millions of people who otherwise don't need to file a tax return have to file one to get a stimulus payment is a mistake that lawmakers have made before. It's one that should be avoided now, in the middle of a pandemic. 1/
Here's @Claudia_Sahm on the 2008 stimulus payment. Lawmakers required some 20 million seniors veterans, & others to file a tax return to get it. 17 percent didn't ever file for the payment -- & that wasn't in a pandemic.
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Then National Taxpayer Advocate laid out for congress the problems this caused. govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CH…
Olson said the lesson lawmakers should learn was that this was all entirely unnecessary -- the VA and SSA has all the information needed to get stimulus payments millions of those people without them having to file another form.
As has @Claudia_Sahm!
As @GreensteinCBPP's thread (embedded in 1st tweet) notes, states can do much the same thing to reach millions of people who don't file for tax but are eligible for state-administered programs. States say they can get stimulus payments to people this way:
