Youth Today: Leave No Child (or Youth or Family) Behind

By Karen Pittman, March 2001

Advocates for broader supports for children, youth and families have a common focal point: President George Bush’s Tax Cut proposal¹. Hailed by some surprising allies (such as economist Robert Samuelson²) as an appropriate response to ward off a “bust” by giving the wealthy some of their money back, the Tax Cut proposal has met considerable resistance from advocates, economists and even the wealthy³, as chronicled by Connect for Kids⁴.

“Even the Fat Cats Don’t Buy It” was the headline of the Los Angeles Times article⁵ that reported that George Soros, Bill Gates, Sr., and more than 100 other wealthy people responded to Bush’s commitment to drop the estate tax as a move that would “enrich the heirs of millionaires and billionaires, while hurting families who struggle to make ends meet.” John J. DiIulio, Bush’s advisor on charitable giving, confirms the cautions raised by studies done by the Independent Sector, the Council on Foundations and the Urban Institute that suggest declines of as much as one-third if the tax were ended, leaving nonprofits to compete for an even smaller pie⁶.

“Even the Public Doesn’t Buy It” could have been the lead-in to the recent CNN/USA/Gallup poll results⁷ showing that while a majority of Americans (56 percent) favor the cuts, few feel the cuts would make a personal difference to them, and many are concerned that they will cause a deficit (53 percent), take money away from Social Security (57 percent) or benefit the rich (75 percent). Fight Crime: Invest in Kids⁸ took polling a step farther, finding that more than two-thirds of the public believes that reducing child abuse, educating disadvantaged students and providing access to after-school and school readiness programs are more important than cutting taxes.

“Only the rich will benefit” is the rallying call from organizations such as the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF)⁹, the National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support¹⁰ and the National Council of La Raza¹¹. They are backed by studies from the Urban Institute¹² and Brookings¹³ that show that, without a refundable child care tax credit that would be available to low- and moderate-income families that don’t pay federal income taxes, the top 40 percent of families with children will receive 81 percent of the benefit of the Bush child credit, while the poorest 20 percent would receive less than 1 percent.

And, perhaps most sobering, is the fact that even the U.S. General Accounting Office¹⁴ is asking the administration to slow down and deliberate a decision that, however implemented, could recreate deficits that would send many bottom-of-the-totem pole programs for children, youth and families — programs which have been nurtured back to health over the past decade — back into shock.

Dorothy Stoneman¹⁵, founder and president of YouthBuild USA, brought the concerns home with an informal email distributed to advocates and friends. “I woke up at 3 A.M. this morning feeling that driving conviction in my mind, heart, and belly that if we don’t mobilize massive opposition to these tax cuts immediately, we can kiss good-bye all long range plans to eliminate or even significantly diminish poverty.”

Marian Wright Edelman¹⁶ echoed Dorothy’s early morning concerns in a keynote at the recent National School Age Childcare Association conference when she lamented that “we’ve never had a sustained lobby” for children and youth and expressed CDF’s commitment to move an omnibus “leave no child behind” bill that would bring home the fact that “children don’t come in pieces.”

This is the real challenge. With luck, the administration will adopt a more “prudent” decision-making approach that will leave advocates time to caucus. When that time comes, youth advocates have to forcefully rally around child care tax credit issues, child and family advocates have to argue to protect youth programming, and everyone has to think about basic family supports. Leaving no child behind means creating an omnibus bill that addresses the unique but overlapping needs of children, youth and families — including those headed by young people themselves. It’s time to think big and act bigger.

Additional Resources:
Mitchell, A. (2001, February 24). Interest Groups Are Gearing Up for High-Stakes Tax Cut Fight. New York Times. Retrieved May 15, 2003, from www.nytimes.com/2001/02/24/politics/24LOBB.html?ex=1053144000&en=adbf0c2ce342de52&ei=5070.

MEETING TO OPPOSE INEQUITABLE TAX CUTS FEB 23. The tax cuts are, perhaps, the most important immediate issue for nonprofits, says OMB Watch. If enacted, the proposed $1.6++ trillion tax cut will deplete government resources and severely limit, if not actually cause deep cuts to, important domestic investments for years to come. Whether you work on health care, housing, education, issues around children, the elderly, or any of a host of other issues, this concerns the future of your work for decades to come. Invest in America, PFAW, AFSCME and others cosponsor a meeting to discuss how to oppose passage of large, expensive, and inequitable tax cuts. Friday, Feb 23 [2001] from 10 to noon at 2000 M Street NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC.

Read More:
1. The White House. (2001). The President’s Agenda for Tax Relief. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved May 15, 2003, from www.whitehouse.gov/news/reports/taxplan.html.

2. Samuelson, R. J. (2001, February 14). Who deserves a tax cut? Washington Post, pp. A25. Retrieved May 15, 2003, from www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A1935-2001Feb13?language%2bprinter.

3. Johnston, D.C. (2001, February 14). Dozens of the Wealthy Join to Fight Estate Tax Repeal. New York Times, pp. A1. Retrieved May 14, 2003, from www.nytimes.com/2001/02/14/politics/14ESTA.html?ex=1053144000&en=a55925874a11ec5a&ei=5070.

4. Connect for Kids Weekly. (2001, February 12). Kids and Politics — Tax Cuts. Washington, DC: Benton Foundation. Retrieved May 15, 2003, from www.connectforkids.org/newsletter-url1571/newsletter-url_show.htm?doc_id=48946.

5. Even the Fat Cats Don’t Buy It. (2001, February 16). Los Angeles Times.

6. A bad tax break. (2001, February 16). Boston Globe, pp. A18.

7. Simmons, W. W. (2001). Americans support Bush tax cut but don’t see a great deal of personal benefit. Princeton, NJ: The Gallup Organization. Retrieved May 15, 2003, from www.gallup.com/subscription/?m=f&c_id=9868.

8. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids. (2001). More than Two-thirds of public say boosting investments in kids a higher priority than tax cut. Washington, DC: Fight Crime: Invest in Kids. Retrieved May 15, 2003, from www.fightcrime.org/press/taxcutrelease.php.

9. Edelman, M. W. (2001, January 22). Letter inviting President Bush to work on common ground issues. Washington, DC: Children’s Defense Fund. Retrieved May 15, 2003, from www.cdfactioncouncil.org/marian_transition_letter.htm.

10.National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support. (2001, February 6). Leave No Child Behind? Washington, DC: National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support. Retrieved May 15, 2003, from www.nationalcampaign.org/Download/leavenochildbehind.doc.

11.National Council of La Raza. (2001, February 8). Statement of Raul Yzaguirre on President Bush’s tax plan.

12.Sammartino, F. J. (2001, January). Federal income tax cuts and low-income families. Washington, DC: Urban Institute. Retrieved May 15, 2003, from www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=410250.

13.Sawhill, I., & Thomas, A. (2001, January). A tax proposal for working families with children. Policy Brief No. 3. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution. Retrieved May 15, 2003, from www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/wrb/publications/pb/pb03/pb03.htm.

14.U.S. General Accounting Office. (2001, February). Long-term budget issues: Moving from balancing the budget to balancing fiscal risk. Statement of David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States (GAO-01-385T). Washington, DC: U.S. General Accounting Office. Retrieved May 15, 2003, from www.gao.gov/new.items/d01385t.pdf.

15.D. Stoneman (personal communication, Wednesday, February 7, 2001).

16.Edelman, M. W. (2001, February 12). Keynote address presented at the National School-Age Care Alliance Public Policy Forum, Washington, DC.
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Pittman, K. (2001, March). "Leave No Child (or Youth or Family) Behind." Washington, DC: The Forum for Youth Investment. A version of this article appears in Youth Today.

Karen Pittman is executive director of the Forum for Youth Investment.