July 23, 2024
How the 2017 Tax Law Made Itemized Charitable Giving a Luxury Good
Key Points Read the PDF. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 included some of the most far-reaching changes to the US income tax code in a generation. In addition to reducing statutory tax rates for individuals and corporations, the law adjusted the tax base. Among its most significant changes to the individual…
July 17, 2024
Coming Together on Chronic Absenteeism: Schools’ Top Priority This Year
Event Summary On July 17, AEI’s Nat Malkus was joined by Education Trust’s Denise Forte and Attendance Works’ Hedy Chang to discuss chronic absenteeism. Dr. Malkus presented chronic absenteeism data from his Return to Learn Tracker, then sat down for a fireside chat with Ms. Forte and Ms. Chang. They noted that chronic absenteeism is…
July 17, 2024
Key Takeaways from a New Report on Potential Unemployment Insurance Reforms
Yesterday, the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) released the final report of its Unemployment Insurance (UI) Task Force, of which I am a member. The task force was created in December 2020, as state UI agencies were besieged by record pandemic benefit claims and unprecedented fraud. I was one of several members added in late 2023. The purpose…
July 15, 2024
It Is Time to Set Goals for Cutting Chronic Absenteeism
Believe it or not, the 2024–25 school year will begin in some parts of the country in less than a month, and students will return to school. Whether they return to school consistently is the most important question at the opening of this school year. Whether schools, districts, and states make chronic absenteeism their top…
July 14, 2024
Fostering Normalcy for Foster Kids
When my daughter was 16 and was offered a job as a lifeguard, her boss told her she’d need to have her own bank account in order to be paid. No one gets checks anymore, just direct deposit. So I took her to our local bank branch and helped her open an account. This process…
July 11, 2024
Exploring Trends in Food Bank Use
Business Insider wrote in early 2023 that food banks are “bracing themselves for an onslaught” of increased demand. Later that year, Bloomberg reported that “lines stretch down the block at food banks.” And two months ago, CNN noted that the “share of people turning to hunger relief programs remains higher than it was prior to…
July 10, 2024
Has Income Growth between Generations of Americans Stalled?
A defining aspect of the American dream is that the economic well-being of each generation surpasses that of the previous one. However, commentators have questioned whether this holds true for the most recent generations. A 2022 Gallup poll found that only 42 percent of Americans expect today’s young people to have a better life than…
June 27, 2024
New Legal Roadblocks for Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Crusade
Last fall President Biden announced his “Plan B” for student loan cancellation after the Supreme Court ruled his initial efforts unconstitutional. Plan B, named the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, was an attempt to eliminate the burden of student loans by lessening how much borrowers needed to repay. But this wasn’t in the spirit of…
June 26, 2024
Reducing Racial Disparities in Foster Care Might Endanger Black Children
To what lengths should we go to reduce racial disparities in the child welfare system? In 2021 the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to require the Department of Children and Family Services to pilot a program of “blind removals.” The program, which had been tried to great fanfare in a couple of other jurisdictions, essentially…
June 26, 2024
American Workers Are Doing Great. They Could Be Doing Even Better.
Editor’s note: This is one of a pair of essays responding to the Economic Innovation Group’s report, “The American Worker: Toward a New Consensus”, by Adam Ozimek, John Lettieri, and Benjamin Glasner. The other is by Paul Krugman of the New York Times. To the Economic Innovation Group’s attempt to articulate a “new consensus” about the American…