States need ‘aggressive outreach’ to help low-income people get their stimulus checks: think tank

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) on Thursday released a paper urging states to conduct “aggressive outreach” in order to help millions of low-income individuals receive their coronavirus stimulus payments.

“Such outreach efforts will benefit both individuals and communities,” CBPP, a left-leaning think tank, said in its report.

Legislation that President Trump signed into law in late March provides for one-time payments to most Americans of up to $1,200 per adult and $500 per dependent child. Individuals making up to $75,000 and married couples making up to $150,000 are eligible for the full payment amount.

The Treasury Department said last week that it has made around 159 million disbursements, saying payments have been sent to all eligible Americans about whom the IRS has necessary information.

The IRS sent payments automatically to people who filed 2018 or 2019 tax returns and to those who are not typically required to file tax returns and receive Social Security, railroad retirement benefits, Supplemental Security Income and veterans benefits.

A remaining challenge is for the IRS to get payments to eligible Americans who are not typically required to file tax returns and do not receive those federal benefits. The IRS said that non-filers can receive their payments this year if they use a web tool to provide their information to the agency by Oct. 15. The agency also said that it planned to do outreach to groups that serve homeless individuals, underserved communities and households where members speak limited English.

CBPP estimated in its report that there are about 12 million people who don’t file tax returns and don’t receive the specified federal benefits. These people have very low incomes are are largely not elderly, according to the report.

Of that group of 12 million, about 9 million receive benefits that are administered by their states and counties, such as Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, CBPP estimated. 

“State agencies are uniquely placed to use existing contact information to alert eligible people about the payments and connect them with services to help them obtain their payment,” CBPP said.

CBPP recommended that states’ outreach efforts target very-low income children, adults without children under 17, people of color, people with lower education levels and people without secure housing.

The think tank estimated that the group of 9 million people it focused on is “disproportionately people of color because they are likelier to have lower incomes due to historical racism and ongoing bias and discrimination.” Twenty-seven percent of people in the group are black and another 19 percent are Latino, CBPP estimated.

“Ensuring that low-income people of color receive the payments for which they qualify is especially important given emerging evidence that they are being hit hardest by both the economic and health effects of the pandemic,” CBPP said.

CBPP said that state outreach efforts to ensure that non-filers get their stimulus payments could help people who most need the payments, and they could help state and local economies because the recipients of the payments would be likely to spend them.

“Public education efforts and partnerships with key stakeholder groups, such as service providers for people experiencing homelessness, will be critical to connecting people to the $1,200 payments,” the group said.

CBPP’s estimates are of non-filers that did not qualify for automatic payments to the IRS, and the group said that some of that population of 12 million may have already received their payments after using the IRS’s web tool.

The Government Accountability Office told House Ways and Means Committee Democrats that through May 22, there have been more than 4 million payments sent to non-filers who don’t receive certain federal benefits. A document from committee Democrats, updated last week, said that payments have yet to be made to an estimated 10.7 million taxpayers who fall into this category.