S.20.3-16: Family Opportunity Fund Act (Law'd)

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

can we get an estimate of the cost of this program and revenue generated from the tax? I like the idea though.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

I like the idea a lot, it is an absolute priority that all families and children get the support they need, its an important investment in our region's future.

I do agree with WB that we should look at estimates of how much the tax generates vs how much spending this will result in. One thing that might be useful is seeing if the comptroller general can do a few different estimates based on varying ways of getting revenue, perhaps adding another bracket further up the income scale - plus estimates of how much different monthly amounts of universal child dividend is given would cost. That would help us a lot with reaching some sort of balance.

One thing I am not entirely sure on, but what is the definition of child that we are using for the purpose of this bill?

That's a good point. Introducing the following amendment:

AN ACT
to give families more security and opportunity

Section 1 (Title & Definitions)
i. The title of this act shall be, the “Family Opportunity Fund."
ii. The "beginning of a month" is the 1st
iii. "Child" is defined as a person aged 17 or younger.

Section 2 (Universal Child Dividend)
i. Every family will be mailed $500 per child at the beginning of every month ($6,000 a year).
ii. This bill will be paid for by a 5% income tax on incomes above $100,000

Section 3 (Implementation)
i. This legislation shall come into effect immediately upon signature by the Governor.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

A few questions: How is "family" defined here? Is it just anyone with kids as a dependent?

Also how does this work for divorced parents? Does one parent receive it, or does each parent receive a cut? Related to that, will this impact existing child support obligations at all?

I had been under the impression that it was that definition, yes. Makes it so that single parents and those adopting are still eligible.

I'm not quite sure how to tackle that second one, though.

I did, however, think of something else which I hope to address with this amendment:

AN ACT
to give families more security and opportunity

Section 1 (Title & Definitions)
i. The title of this act shall be, the “Family Opportunity Fund."
ii. The "beginning of a month" is the 1st
iii. "Child" is defined as a person aged 17 or younger.

Section 2 (Universal Child Dividend)
i. Every family will be mailed $400 per child at the beginning of every month ($4,800 a year) for up to four dependents.

ii. The Universal Child Dividend shall be withheld from families under CPS investigation until the investigation is complete. If the case is placed into Categories III, IV, or V, the Family shall be backpaid for any missed Dividend payments.

iii. This bill will be paid for by a 5% income tax on individual incomes above $100,000

Section 3 (Implementation)
i. This legislation shall come into effect immediately upon signature by the Governor.

This should hopefully ensure that those willfully neglecting or abusing their child will not financially benefit from having them. I'd be open to changing this though.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Do we have any update from the RG as to the cost of this bill? Has anyone even tried contacting them?

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

yeah, also objecting to the amendment. Going down to 50,000 is far too low.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Nay

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

100% behind the idea of expanding the tax credit. It would mean less bureaucracy than a whole new program while having the intended effect, especially if we allow that to be paid out over the course of the year instead of all at once.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

I see no reason to object to the bill in its current form.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

actually, is this even fully funded? I'd be in favor of changing the tax to lessen the burden on the middle class and to ensure this is funded.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

With those changes, I'm 100% in support of this.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Aye