Treatment of Tax Refunds and Credits in the Food Stamp Program

The recently passed Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 greatly simplifies and standardizes the rules for how Earned Income Tax Credits, Child Tax Credits, and any tax refunds are treated in determining eligibility for public benefit programs including the Food Stamp Program (FSP). This legislation will greatly help low-income families who would like to save their tax credits/refunds for the future without losing important public benefits.

OTDA has released GIS 11 TA/DC002 which outlines the impact of this legislation on FS and Temporary Assistance (TA).

Click here for the Nutrition Consortium's memo that highlights the FS policy implications of this new legislation.

Food Stamps and Tax Aid Kept Poverty Rate in Check

New York Times Article By SAM ROBERTS
Published: March 20, 2011

Without a flood of food stamps and tax benefits for low-income families, about 250,000 more New Yorkers would have slipped into poverty at the height of the recession, according to calculations to be released Monday by city officials.

As it was, while the federal poverty rate for the city remained about the same from 2008 to 2009, 17.3 percent, by a measure developed by the city it rose to 19.9 percent. The city takes into account factors the federal standard does not — higher local costs of living and expenses for health care, commuting and day care, or the value of benefits like food stamps, housing allowances and tax credits that can supplement cash income.

“To a large degree, economic stimulus programs and policy initiatives aimed at bolstering family income succeeded in preventing a rise in poverty in New York City,” according to the report by the mayor’s Center for Economic Opportunity.

To read the full article

To veiw Policy Affects Poverty Report

1 in 4 Americans Worried About Having Enough Money for Food

From the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC):

One in four Americans is worried about having enough money to put food on the table in the next year, according to a national hunger survey by Hart Research Associates, commissioned last month by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) and Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN). Another key finding is that many Americans are unaware of how serious hunger is in their own communities.

Other key survey findings include:

• 91% of Americans are committed to the principle that no one should go hungry in the U.S.
• 89% believe hunger impacts the physical development of infants/toddlers.
• 53% believe that children often eat cheap, unhealthy foods so families can pay rent.
• 51% believe that seniors often have to choose between paying for medical prescriptions or food.

To view the executive summary, please click here.
To view survey findings, please click here.

Hunger in Our Schools: Share Our Strength's Teachers Report

Earlier this month, Share Our Strength released its 2nd annual survey of K-8 public school teachers about child hunger.

According to the nationwide survey:

• 65% of teachers say there are children in their classrooms who regularly come to school hungry because they are not getting enough to eat at home.
• Nearly two thirds (65%) of teachers say that most or a lot of their students rely on school meals as their primary source of nutrition.
  
• Nearly(96%) of teachers believe that breakfast is extremely or very important to student academic achievement.

Read the full report (here) or visit the Share Our Strength website to find out more about how you can help close the school breakfast gap (here).