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April
24,
2007
WEEKLY REVIEW |
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In this
issue:
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COMPREHENSIVE FISCAL REFORM AND HUMAN SERVICES Cost of Doing Business bill for human service contracts filed
PROGRESSIVE TAX POLICY EITC on Illinois' legislative agenda; federal EITC and the Alternative Minimum Tax
EQUAL PAY DAY MARKS WAGE GAP Women's wages continue to lag behind those of men
CONFERENCE: ILLINOIS STATE MICROENTERPRISE INITIATIVE Sights set on small business development, community growth
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE Education, Juvenile Justice
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
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COMPREHENSIVE FISCAL REFORM AND HUMAN SERVICES |
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Despite the growing demand for public services, spending on human services decreased by $387 million, or 10%, between 2001 and 2004, after adjusting for inflation. |
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COST OF DOING BUSINESS BILL FOR HUMAN SERVICE CONTRACTS FILED
Cost of Doing Business Trust Fund
A Human Services CODB bill (HB 2253) has been filed. The creation of the CODB Trust Fund, which is contingent on the passage of HB/SB 750, would do the following:
— Create a CODB Trust Fund. In year one, $175 million will be deposited in the Fund with new money generated from state sales tax revenue outlined in HB/SB 750. — The CODB Fund may be used for a cost of doing business adjustment annually for purchase of care contracts and grant agreements. In year one, this would be a 3% cost of doing business increase. In subsequent years, allowable CODB increases would be determined by the Employment Cost Index (ECI) so as to accurately reflect inflationary costs from year to year. — Eligible Departments include the Department of Children and Family Services, Department of Human Services, Department of Public Health, Department of Healthcare and Family Services, Department on Aging, Office of the Attorney General, Department of Corrections, Department of Juvenile Justice, Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and private community-based contractual providers or grantees. — It is important to note that this is not an automatic increase for human services. Service providers would still need to go to Springfield every year to advocate for their programs. However, the CODB bill would set up a designated trust fund specifically to be used for cost of doing business increases the funds available for human services.
Click here to read the bill. Click here to read a fact sheet.
If you are interested in learning more about the CODB bill or would like to show your organizational support for the bill, please contact Dia Cirillo at 312-332-6522 or dcirillo@ctbaonline.org.
TELL US YOUR SIDE OF THE STORY -- What would a CODB Trust Fund mean to YOU?
We want to hear from YOU. Tell us, in roughly 150 words or less, why a CODB Trust Fund would be good for your organization. Do you have a story to share about the consequences of not having your human service contracts reflect your actual costs of doing business? Can you tell us an important system need for a CODB or an opportunity that won't exist until there is a CODB? We are collecting stories to share in the Weekly Review and CODB communications materials. If you have a story to tell, please contact Valerie Chepp at 312-332-2151 or vchepp@ctbaonline.org.
What you need to know to put CODB into context: Here's some background info
At the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, we know that fiscal reform is particularly important to human service programs and providers. CTBA's analysis shows that, despite increased costs, spending on human services decreased by $387 million, or 10%, between 2001 and 2004, after adjusting for inflation. The state has failed to allocate adequate funding even to maintain necessary human services because the the Illinois revenue system does not generate enough money to keep pace with the increased cost of providing services from year to year. As a result, human service providers are increasingly finding themselves squeezed from all directions, working with less money every year while trying to make ends meet in order to adequately deliver the much-needed human services on which Illinois' low and moderate income families, seniors and those with disabilities rely.
So, what are human service providers and advocates to do? The answer is straightforward:
Illinois must modernize its tax system and bring in more revenue to maintain funding for human services over time.
Unless comprehensive fiscal reform is passed, human services will continue to see their funding decrease year after year. A proposal on the table now that accomplishes comprehensive fiscal reform, including the elimination of the structural deficit, is House and Senate Bill 750. HB/SB 750 would generate additional revenue for the state by expanding the sales tax base to cover some consumer services (but not business, housing, professional or healthcare services) and increasing the income tax from 3% to 5%. HB/SB 750 would also reduce property taxes statewide and would provide nearly $1 billion in targeted tax relief for low and moderate income families; this targeted tax relief would ensure that the bottom 60% of income earners in Illinois would not pay any more in taxes after the passage of HB/SB 750.
In all, HB/SB 750 would generate more than an additional $9 billion for the state. This is important for human service providers particularly because:
Resources
For additional information on HB/SB750, visit our website.
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EQUAL PAY DAY MARKS WAGE GAP |
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WOMEN'S WAGES CONTINUE TO LAG BEHIND THOSE OF MEN
Tuesday, April 24th is Equal Pay Day. The day represents the reality that, on average, a woman must work for a year and four months in order to earn the same wages that a man receives in just one year.
Although our nation is making its way towards equality, it wasn’t too long ago that the Equal Pay Act (1963) made it illegal to pay women less than man for equivalent work (outside of differences based on experience, education or seniority).
Jumping ahead to the present, the gender wage gap persists. A 2007 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press shows that half of our country believes in strong gender roles: Only 51% of Americans completely disagree with the statement that “women should return to their traditional roles in society.” And this translates to the paychecks. Women who work are facing serious inequality in earnings.
Fact: A women earns only 76 cents for every dollar earned by a man, a decline from 77 cents in 2002. Fact: One year out of college, women working full time earn 80% of what men earn. Ten years later, women earn 69% as much as men earn. Fact: The median earnings of African American women working full-time, year-round, amount to 66 cents for ever dollar earned by a white man; Hispanic women earned 54 cents on the dollar. This shows an increase in the pay gap between 2001 and 2003.
According to the data, the pay gap is growing in various sectors. Educational attainment is not translating into equal compensation. The law is being circumvented in order to assure women do not reach the same level of economic success as men.
This critical difference in earnings has a number of serious results: Women are more likely to be in poverty than men, have significantly less money to help them retire, and if they are able to leave the workforce -- on average at a later age than men -- have smaller pensions and savings.
The gender wage gap in Illinois The data for Illinois illustrate similar gaps in wages between men and women. The State of Working Illinois report shows that the medium hourly wage paid to women in 2004 was $12.70 while men's medium hourly wage was $16.25, an hourly wage gap of $3.55.
Notably, women's 2004 medium hourly wage increased by $1.95 since 1980, a gain of 17.9%. Men's medium wage decreased since 1980 by $1.35, a loss of 7.6%.
The decline in men's hourly wages in Illinois during the last two decades is in some ways a reflection of Illinois' changing economy. The State of Working Illinois tells us that Illinois continues to lose high-paying jobs that provide good benefits, such as manufacturing jobs. Replacing these good-paying jobs are significantly lower-paying jobs with fewer benefits, most of which are concentrated in the service sector.
Women in Illinois are primarily gaining employment opportunities in these lower-paying service sector jobs, while men remain disproportionately represented in the higher paying industries, despite the fact that some of these industries are declining. "In several good-paying industries - construction, manufacturing, and transportation and utilities - women comprise less than a third of all workers. But they make up over three-quarters of the employees in educational and health services and in other service industries." (The State of Working Illinois, pg. 21) This over-representation of women in lower-paying jobs contributes to the discrepancy in wages between men and women in Illinois.
Resources $ Visit the Getting Even Calculator to find out how much you and the women in your life stand to lose as a result of the gender wage gap. $ Visit the National Women’s Law Center for reports and fact sheets on workplace gender inequality. $ Learn more about the federal Paycheck Fairness Act (S766/HR1338), introduced by Sen. Clinton and Rep. Rosa DeLauro. This act would strengthen laws against wage discrimination and require the federal government to be more proactive in the prevention and termination of wage discrimination. Click here to read a 2007 press release. $ Sen. Tom Harkin introduced the Fair Pay Act of 2007 earlier this month. This act would address the wage gap by amending the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, making payscale information more accessible to employees and introducing new safeties to current equal pay law. Read more.
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PROGRESSIVE TAX POLICY |
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EITC ON ILLINOIS' LEGISLATIVE AGENDA; FEDERAL EITC AND THE ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX
Last year, nearly 765,000 low income families statewide benefited from the the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the only tax benefit that expressly encourages and rewards work. Yet, Illinois' EITC maximum credit is 5%, making it the smallest of the nation’s twenty-one state EITCs. That is why the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and other advocates have come together to form the Make Work Pay coalition, which seeks to increase the Illinois EITC in 2007.
Read Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, make the case for increasing the EITC in his recent Sun-Times column, “Raising state EITC would pave road to tax fairness.”
"Far from progressive, Illinois has the sixth-most regressive taxing system in the nation. The state's tax system is so unfair that, despite declining real incomes, the poorest 20 percent of income earners in Illinois have tax burdens that are almost three times greater than the wealthiest 10 percent.”
--Ralph Martire, Chicago Sun-Times, 4/21/07
Top 10 reasons to increase the EITC for working families:
$ Low-income, working families pay more of their income in taxes than anyone else. $ Illinois tax system is the nation’s most regressive. $ The income level at which Illinois residents begin paying taxes is far too low. $ Nearly a quarter of all working families in Illinois fall below the poverty line
Want to know the other reasons? Take a look at a recent fact sheet by the Make Work Pay coalition on why the EITC must be raised.
Details on the legislation
To view the text of these state bills or check their progress, visit www.ilga.gov.
Both of these bills successfully passed from the Senate earlier this spring; advocates are waiting to see what happens to these bills in the House. If you would like to learn more or join the Make Work Pay campaign, contact Sean Noble, Voices for Illinois Children, (312) 502-5566 or snoble@voices4kids.org.
Resources and Background
“A Local Ladder for Low-Income Workers: Recent Trends in Earned Income Tax
Credit,” The Brookings Institute, Elizabeth
Kneebone, April 2007. $ 1 in 6 taxpayers received Earned Income Tax Credits $ Large metropolitan suburbs were home to 2.4 million more EITC recipients than their cities $ The EITC, in addition to the Additional Child Tax Credit, accounted for 70% of refunds paid to low-income working families
“Campaign to Increase Illinois’ Earned Income Tax Credit Gathers Steam,” Sargent Shriver Center, February 2007 “A Rising Number of State Earned Income Tax Credits are Helping Families Escape Poverty,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, October 2006 “The Earned Income Tax Credit,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. This site includes related reports, an income credit estimator tool, and links to an outreach kit on how to build support for Earned Income Tax Credits.
MORE GOOD, PROGRESSIVE TAX POLICY NEWS:
The U.S. House Marks Tax Day With a "Win" for Low Income Taxpayers
On April 17, 2007, the House approved the Taxpayer Protection Act, making it easier for taxpayers to retrieve property lost as result of wrongful IRS taxation, protect themselves from predatory loans and fraudulent tax schemes. Of note for low-income earners: the IRS is directed to conduct further outreach to notify people that they are eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
According to a recent report issues by the federal Joint Economic Committee, in 2004, eligible people failed to receive a total of $8 billion by not filling for the EITC. For the 22.3 million who did receive the tax refund on payroll and income taxes, an average of $1,797 was returned for a total of $40 billion.
For further information, look at “Closing the Tax Gap,” Center for American Progress, Jan 2007.
U.S. Representative Rahm Emmanuel (D-IL) Speaks Out Against Unfair Taxes
There are 358 days until the next tax day. But who’s counting?
For a number of middle-income earners, the clock is ticking.
In 2007, close to 3.7 million taxpayers paid the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) for the first time, meaning they filed a parallel tax worksheet and paid the higher rate. Next year, some 23 million will be subject to the AMT, and the up to 29 million in three years.
Initially created to tax millionaires who took advantage of tax loopholes, this 1969 law was never indexed for inflation, so it has begun to burden more earners who do not fit into the original target income bracket.
Some solutions have been suggested -- have the IRS go after uncollected taxes, which amount to nearly $300 billion a year, or get rid of the AMT altogether, or adding deductions and exemptions to the AMT.
Congressperson Emanuel (IL-5) has spoken out against the AMT. On April 14th, 2007, Emmanuel delivered the Democratic Radio Address, using this airtime to discuss how this tax has become a “Parent Penalty,” as it disallows personal exemptions that parents are allowed to claim under the regular tax rules to reflect the additional cost of raising children.
The AMT hits families with incomes of at least $65,000. For how long will Congress dismiss the need to index this tax for inflation and target the earners for whom this regulation was created?
Resources “Fix the Alternative Minimum Tax,” LA Times, Editorial, April 16, 2007 Background on the Alternative Minimum Tax, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 2007
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conference: Illinois State Microenterprise Initiative |
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SIGHTS SET ON SMALL BUSINESSES DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNITY GROWTH
The Illinois State Microenterprise Initiative (ISMI) is now registering participants for its Spring Conference, to be held May 17, 2007 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, located at 230 S. LaSalle in Chicago. The conference, which will focus on entrepreneurship across Illinois, includes five panels and presentations from community groups and regional organizations.
Economic development strategies are currently on the agenda in communities across the state. The Illinois Asset Building Group engages in policy advocacy including the current children’s savings account legislation. Illinois Works for the Future, a campaign to ensure long-term economic growth and competitiveness statewide, recently introduced a resolution to integrate Illinois’ workforce and economic development strategies.
ISMI is a partnership of service providers, financial and educational institutions, state and local economic development organizations and microenterprise loan funds in Illinois. Their mission is to provide an “organized voice to advocate for community economic empowerment and create growth opportunities in small business development.”
If you would like to register for this conference or learn more about the panels, email shough@uiuc.edu or call Dar Knipe at (309) 792-2500 or Kathy Johnson at 773-481-8897. To learn more about ISMI, or to become a member, contact David Gay, Chair, at 630-942-2771 or Marcy Walcer Kostis at 847-778-7535.
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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE |
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EDUCATION, JUVENILE JUSTICE
Education reform legislation in Springfield, Nationwide Bills address workforce competitiveness through education
Policy advocates nationwide are submitting proposals for the reauthorized Higher Education Act.
Analysts at the Center for Law and Social Policy have submitted a series of recommendations on improvements to the Higher Education Act to members of the House Committee on Education and Labor. They concentrate on three goals: • To help more working adults and other nontraditional students enroll in and complete postsecondary programs by offering greater financial and other support, • To help colleges in their critical workforce development role by promoting innovation in program content and delivery; and • To simplify the aid application process and increase aid to the neediest students.
To find out more from the authors, contact Julie Strewn at jstrawn@clasp.org, or Amy-Ellen Duke at aduke@clasp.org.
Raising the bar on juvenile justice in Illinois A small bill with big consequences for youth
Background HB1517 would put Illinois’ youth adjudication processes in line with 38 other states. High school juniors and seniors would be seen in juvenile court, and have the life-long benefit of avoiding permanent adult records. This bill calls for a phase-in approach through which misdemeanors will be the first to return to juvenile court, while a task force would look at phasing in other felonies.
Some of the opposition to the bill exists based on cost. If you are
interested in learning more about the facts behind HB1517, data showing the
reality of cost, or a fact sheet, please contact Elizabeth Kooy of the
Juvenile Justice Initiative of Illinois at
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UPCOMING EVENTS |
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CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE TODAY |
WHAT? Protestants for the Common Good Lobby Day WHEN? Wednesday, April 25, 2007, 10:00 AM - 4:30 PM
WHERE?
First Christian Church, 700 South Sixth Street, Springfield, IL
WHAT? RTA Connecting Communities through Coordination Transportation Forum WHEN? April 26, 2007 WHERE? DuPage County (click here for locations) The Regional Transportation Authority is hosting these meetings as a part of their project known as Connecting Communities through Coordination. For more information about this project, take a look at their website.
WHAT? Moving From Poverty to Opportunity: Madison County Action Forum WHEN? Saturday, April 28, 2007, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM WHERE? Location to be determined For more information, contact Doug Schenkelberg, Associate Director of Policy Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, at 773.728.5960 x6284.
WHAT? Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European, and Latino Immigrants of Illinois Unity March WHEN? Tuesday, May 1, 2007, Various times WHERE? Locations in downtown Chicago Join CAAAELII in a march for comprehensive immigration reform. See flyer for more details.
WHAT? Balanced and Restorative Justice Meeting WHEN? Thursday, May 3, 2007, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM WHERE? Juvenile Facility, 1100 S. Hamilton Ave., Presiding Judges Conference Room, 8th Floor, Chicago This City Wide Restorative Justice Committee will hold its quarterly meeting next Thursday. Arrive at 9:30 for refreshments. Contact Mary Alice Brice to R.S.V.P. Phone: (312) 603-1915. Fax: (312) 603-1929 or email mabrice@cookcountygov.com.
WHAT? What Works for Today's Families? And What Doesn't?: A Decade of Research, Practice, and Dialogue WHEN? May 4-5, 2007 WHERE? University of Chicago, International House, 1414 East 59th Street, Chicago For more information, click here.
WHAT? Illinois Asset Building Group member meeting, media training, and Capitol visits in support of children's saving account task force (SB388/HB1662) WHEN? Wednesday, May 9, 2007 WHERE? Springfield For more information or to RSVP, contact Meg Dunne at 312.263.3830x 246 or megdunne@povertylaw.org.
WHAT? Financing Development: Community Housing Developers Institute WHEN? May 15-16, 2007
WHERE?
ICAA Training Facility, 3435 Liberty Drive, Springfield, IL
WHAT? Illinois State Microenterprise Initiative Spring Conference WHEN? May 17, 2007
WHERE?
Federal Reserve Bank of
Chicago, 230 S. LaSalle, Chicago
WHAT? Making the Connection: Basic Training WHEN? Wednesday, May 17, 2007, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM WHERE? 1120 E. Diehl Road, Naperville
This training is part of the DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform workshop series, Making the Connection: Accessing Public Benefits for Low Income Persons. For more information, to learn about other workshops, and to register, click here.
WHAT? Construction Management: Community Housing Developers Institute WHEN? June 5-6, 2007
WHERE?
Abraham Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center/President Abraham Lincoln
Museum, Springfield
WHAT? Community Renewal Society’s “Future Summit” WHEN? June 21, 2007, 1:30-5:30
WHERE?
University of
Chicago, Graduate School of Business, Rothman
Winter Garden, 5807 S. Woodlawn Ave, Chicago, IL
WHAT? Single-Family Development: Community Housing Developers Institute WHEN? September 11-12, 2007
WHERE?
ICAA Training Facility, 3435 Liberty Drive, Springfield, IL
WHAT? Property and Asset Management: Community Housing Developers Institute WHEN? October 16-17, 2007
WHERE?
ICAA Training Facility, 3435 Liberty Drive, Springfield, IL
WHAT? Affordable Housing Month WHEN? November 1-30, 2007
WHERE?
Public education events and activities to be held throughout the state
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any questions on information contained in this Weekly Review, |
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