Jobs and Income MECEP Policy Brief: Minimum wage increase brought higher wages, reduced child poverty in 2017 Summary: Maine’s voter-approved minimum wage increase in 2017 led to the fastest wage increase in a decade for low-income Mainers and helped lift 10,000 Maine children out […] James Myall Posted September 24, 2018 Tags Children, Economic Security, Minimum Wage
Jobs and Income Letter to the Editor: A setback for Maine families Does anyone really think Maine’s food pantries can do it all? Between 2011 and 2015, the number of Maine children living in extreme poverty rose eight times […] Sun Journal Posted April 25, 2018 Tags Children, Food Insecurity, Poverty
Taxes and Budget New Analysis: Senate Child Tax Credit Proposal Stacks the Deck Against Rural Working Families New analysis by MECEP shows that the proposal by US Senate Republicans to increase the size of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) will do little for the […] James Myall Posted November 29, 2017 Tags Child Tax Credit, Children, Federal, Taxes
Taxes and Budget Senate plan to increase child tax credit falls short for Maine’s most vulnerable children The Senate Republican tax plan fails to offer meaningful benefit to Maine’s working families with children. The plan’s signature change for working families, a change to the […] James Myall Posted November 22, 2017 Tags Child Tax Credit, Children, Taxes
Taxes and Budget GOP Child Care Tax Credits Leave out 29,000 low-income Maine children FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 10, 2017 CONTACT Marpheen Chann mchann@mecep.org (207) 620-1128 GOP Child Care Tax Credits Leave out 29,000 low-income Maine children AUGUSTA, MAINE (November 10, 2017) — Today, Ivanka Trump joined a round […] Posted November 12, 2017 Tags Children, Federal, Taxes
Education MECEP Op-Ed: in the BDN: Without a fair funding source, many Maine kids won’t get a quality education When contrasted with the tax breaks the top 2 percent of Mainers will enjoy over the next two years, the increased school funding looks like less of […] Bangor Daily News Posted September 5, 2017 Tags Children, Education, Revenue, Tax Breaks, Taxes
Maine’s Economy, Taxes and Budget DHHS denies the facts, misappropriates funds Congress authorized to fight Maine’s soaring child poverty For the last seven years, Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) policies have contributed to the disturbing escalation in child poverty and stashed or misappropriated […] James Myall Posted May 11, 2017 Tags Children, Poverty
Taxes and Budget Testimony In Support of LD 1475 “An Act to Reduce Child Poverty by Leveraging Investments in Families Today.” Maine Center for Economic Policy For several years now, Maine’s approach to child poverty has effectively been to ignore it. Federal money earmarked for specific purpose of addressing this problem has been […] Mark Sullivan Posted May 8, 2017 Tags Children, Poverty
Taxes and Budget A Quick Take: Democrats’ Opportunity Agenda Invests in Maine Families, Kids, Communities Yesterday, House and Senate Democrats rolled out a budget proposal that delivers where Governor LePage’s budget failed. We’ll be diving into the details in the coming days […] Megan Michaud Posted April 7, 2017 Tags Budget, Children, Poverty, Taxes
Health Care Maine kids increasingly lack health insurance, in contrast to children nationwide MECEP submitted this graphic along with testimony in opposition to Part I of the governor’s proposed budget, LD 390. Click on the graphic for a PDF of the full […] Mark Sullivan Posted February 21, 2017 Tags Children, Health Care