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Health Coverage Workshop hosted by The Poverty Institute and RI Kids Count
The Poverty Institute and RI KIDS COUNT held a Health Coverage Workshop focused on implementation of health care reform in Rhode Island including changes to Medicaid, immigrant eligibility and the Exchange. The speakers included Christopher Koller, Health Insurance Commissioner; Jennifer Wood, Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Governor’s Office; Deborah Florio, Administrator, Center for Child and Family Health, EOHHS.
Click here to view the presentation and handouts from the workshop.
An Unbalanced Approach to Balancing RI's State Budget: A 2012 Budget Recap (8.11)
To balance the FY2012 budget, in addition to cutting spending, the Governor proposed increasing revenue primarily by expanding the sales tax base to provide $165 million in new resources. The budget enacted by the General Assembly, however, rejected most of the Governor’s revenue proposals and instead enacted deeper cuts to services and programs. The Poverty Institute has produced a summary of the major changes in the 2012 state budget.
Click here to read the 2012 Budget summary.
State Releases Tax Credit and Incentive Report
The Division of Taxation has released their 2011 Tax Credit and Incentive Report, showing how much the state is forgoing in revenue to provide corporate tax credits and incentives, and which companies are benefitting from them. The Poverty Institute applauds the legislation enacted this year which will ensure that, come January, the Division of Taxation will be able to report the job and wage data by tax credit recipient. This will provide a better picture of how these tax credits and incentives are benefitting Rhode Islanders and the state’s economy.
Click here for a summary chart with information on the six specific tax credits
Click here for a Tax Facts issue brief from The Poverty Institute in response to the report release
Click here to view the Division of Taxation's full report
HEALTH CARE COVERAGE IN RHODE ISLAND: MOVING AHEAD
The Poverty Institute and RI KIDS COUNT co-hosted a workshop that provided an overview of Medicaid eligibility and featured a panel that provided an overview of health care reform implementation that included Lt. Governor Roberts, Health Care Commissioner Koller, Medicaid Director Nicolella, and Monica Neronha from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of RI. Materials are available below.
Presentation and handouts
RIte Care outreach materials
ISSUE BRIEF: RESUSCITATING REVENUES: A Balanced Approach to Balancing the Budget (6.11)
Rhode Island needs a balanced approach to addressing the state’s budget shortfall by including proposals that would raise revenue and not just cut spending. Three of the largest sources of state revenue – personal income, sales, and business taxes – could be modified to improve the sustainability and adequacy of our state’s tax structure.
Click here to read more about The Poverty Institute’s recommended modifications.
REPORT: Jobs - Not Taxes - Stimulates Migration (Political Economy Research Institute, 4.11)
Rhode Island shouldn’t worry that higher taxes will drive people away, but how it spends its tax revenue appears to affect the likelihood that people will move here. Employment opportunities, a low incidence of crime, and affordable housing go hand in hand with greater inward migration, according to a new study by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) of Amherst, Mass.
Click here to read the Rhode Island-specific issue brief
PRESENTATION:
The Faces of Poverty (Linda Katz, Interfaith Coalition Conference 5.3.11)POSITION STATEMENT: A 21st Century Sales Tax: Why Governor Chafee’s plan to modernize the sales tax is necessary
The Governor's proposal to modernize the antiquated sales tax and lower the rate is necessary in order to maintain investments in the public services that improve our quality of life, protect our families and businesses, and help grow our economy.
ISSUE BRIEF: Governor Chafee Corporate Tax Reform: Steps in the Right Direction
Governor Chafee’s proposal to shut down corporate loopholes and eliminate unnecessary tax credit programs for only a handful of companies is a step in the right direction towards leveling the playing field between large and small businesses and improving the state’s long-term fiscal health.
REPORT: Rhode Island's Hidden Spending: Tax Expenditures (Tax Facts March 2011)
The state budget should provide a complete picture of the state's finances and spending priorities, but in Rhode Island it only tells part of the story. The budget shows the appropriations the state makes to support education, health care, public safety and a myriad of other services. But another type of government spending comes in the form of the many tax breaks written into law, called tax expenditures. Tax expenditures result in very large revenue losses to Rhode Island, costing the state at least $1.67 billion in lost revenue in 2008.
Click here to visit the report page and learn more about tax expenditures and read about the findings from The Poverty Institute's analysis of the 2010 Tax Expenditure Report.
POSITION STATEMENT: Report claiming Rhode Islanders moving out to avoid estate tax is unmoving (Kate Brewster, 1.11)
The Poverty Institute has prepared a statement in response to the report released today, titled "Leaving Rhode Island," that tries, yet fails, to show that the estate tax is driving wealthy Rhode Islanders out of the state.
ISSUE BRIEF: Tax Incentive Disclosure and Accountability Reporting (12.10)
Legislation was enacted in 2008 to require greater disclosure and accountability of six tax credits available to corporations. Since these requirements went into effect, however, only the most basic information has been reported. Critical information about jobs, wages, and benefits has not been reported, leaving policymakers unable to evaluate whether these tax credits are cost effective tools for economic development.
Click here to read more about this isse.
REPORT: 2010 Rhode Island Standard of Need (11.22.10)
Every two years, The Poverty Institute publishes The Rhode Island Standard of Need (RISN) to provide a more accurate picture about the economic needs of Rhode Islanders than is depicted by the federal poverty level. The RISN uses the costs of housing, food, transportation, health care, child care and other basic necessities to calculate a no-frills budget for families and individuals. The RISN also demonstrates how tax credits, SNAP benefits and subsidies for child care and RIte Care health insurance help close the gap between income and basic need expenses.
CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE RISN REPORT PAGE where you can access the full report, executive summary, and related press.
ISSUE BRIEF: TAX TOPICS FOR 2010
Rhode Islanders understand that we make a collective investment in a safe, prosperous state by setting aside a portion of our income to pay for the kinds of public structures and services that enhance the quality of life for all of us. Due to the national economic recession, however, state revenues have plummeted, leaving us without the resources we need to support these essential public systems and structures. In order to get Rhode Islanders back on their feet, and to ensure that our businesses and our communities have the resources they need, we must take a balanced approach to solving our budget problems. That means not only looking at how to be more mindful about our spending, but also looking at ways in which we can make our tax system more sustainable for the long-term. This issue brief covers several state tax policy issues and recommendations that would improve the accountability, adequacy, and equity of our tax structure.
REPORT RELEASE: PRIORITIZING APPROACHES TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NEW ENGLAND: SKILLS, INFRASTRUCTURE AND TAX INCENTIVES
A new report by Jeffrey Thompson of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, documents how investments in our current and future workforce, and the infrastructure that businesses and communities rely on, generate greater returns than tax credits and giveaways. Thompson is a research economist based at PERI and funded in part by The Poverty Institute.
Click here to read the brief
Click here to read the full report
PRESENTATION: State of the State (Interfaith Coalition Conference, Linda Katz, 5.11.10)
PRESENTATION: New Medicaid Coverage for Children (RIte Care Workshop, Linda Katz, Carl Krueger, 5.13.10)
ISSUE BRIEF: Office of Child Support Staff Reductions Weaken Enforcement Capabilitie (5.10)
The Child Support program, operated by the Office of Child Support Services, is vitally important to tens of thousands of Rhode Island single parent families. This issue brief, taken from “An Uneven Path: State Investments in Women’s Economics Self Sufficiency”, explains how reductions in staff and high caseloads weaken the ability of child support enforcement to establish orders and collect support for families.
REPORT: "An Uneven Path: State Investments in Women's Economic Self Sufficiency" (4.10)
The Poverty Institute is proud to announce the public release of our newest report "An Uneven Path: State Investments in Women's Economic Self Sufficiency." State investments in programs that help women and their families attain or maintain economic self-sufficiency have been severely eroded in recent years. This report, co-released with the Women's Fund of Rhode Island, documents the impact of the cuts to the four main programs that help low- and modest-income families make ends meet: child care assistance, cash assistance, health care, and child support. In these harsh economic times, it is imperative that women have access to the programs that help them seek and sustain employment while caring for their families.
Read the full report
Read the executive summary
Read the press release
FACT SHEET: The Rhode Island Works Program: Failing Children and Families (4.10)
An overview of how changes to Rhode Island's cash assistance program over the past few years have dramatically impacted local children and families.
ISSUE BRIEF: Corporate Giveaways Costly to Rhode Island Taxpayers (3.10)
State leaders need to take a balanced approach to solving our financial problems. That means making sure each dollar we spend is a wise, efficient investment. It also means carefully reviewing our state revenue policies. As Rhode Island faces one of the worst fiscal crises in history, we must consider not only what we spend but also what we give away. The Ocean State missing the boat by failing to enact combined reporting and decoupling from the federal “domestic production deduction” corporate tax break.
ISSUE BRIEF: The Flat Tax Causing Steep Decline in Revenue (3.10)
Over the past decade, Rhode Island has given up hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue through a variety of tax breaks of questionable value to the economy. The "flat tax" is one example of a tax break enacted in recent years that is costing the state tens of millions of dollars in forgone revenue. It has no documented benefit to the state's economy and benefits a small number of high income households.
ISSUE BRIEF: Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back: Governor's FY2011 Proposed Tax Policie (2.10)
While the Governor proposes two revenue proposals that make sense (eliminating two costly tax credit programs)he also proposes two new questionable tax cuts will cost at least $21.5 million a year, while continuing to support the phase out of the flat tax.
SUMMARY: Governor Carcieri's FY2011 Budget Proposals Impacting Human Service Program (2.10)
Interested in finding out how the Governor's proposed FY2011 budget impacts Health and Human Services Agencies like DCYF, MHRH and the Department of Health? The Poverty Institute has developed a summary of the major proposals that affect the services provided by the five Health and Human Services agencies.
REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS 2009
REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS 2008
REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS 2006-2007
REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS PRIOR TO 2006
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