Budget & Tax Policy Watch Party & Huddle

States get about one-third of their revenue from the federal government — funds that help pay for health care, schools, housing, roads, child care, job training, and a range of other programs. Unlike the federal government, most states and localities must balance their budgets every year and are directly affected by fluctuations in federal funding, presenting state policymakers with important choices regarding how to adjust their own spending in response.

State budgets are expected to shrink substantially in 2025, as the post-pandemic era of federal aid, record spending, and historic tax cuts comes to a close. Policymakers will face difficult decisions about whether to raise taxes or reduce critical programs and services like food assistance, Medicaid, housing, and education investments. In addition, the expiration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act presents an urgent moment to ensure states and localities have the revenues they need to invest in programs for children and families and an opportunity to correct our course towards a more equitable tax code. These debates and their outcomes will touch every corner of philanthropic work — early childhood, health care, state, and local government services, climate change, housing, senior services, family support services, and much more.

WATCH PARTY, Part 1: March 25 Livestream access

Economic Opportunity Funder’s Spring 2025 Budget and Tax Policy Briefing for Grantmakers took place March 24-25 in Alexandria, VA.  Two plenaries focused on federal and state budget outlooks were livestreamed on March 25. Watch party registrants received access to view the livestream or recording of these plenaries.

WATCH PARTY, Part 2: March 27 ECFC Watch Party Huddle

ECFC hosted a post-EOF plenary watch party discussion on March 27.  We were joined by Ife Finch Floyd, Director of Economic Justice at the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute (GBPI), discuss possible national and federal budget actions and how they might impact state budgets, and to consider how early childhood and child/family grantmakers can work collaboratively to ensure that decisions made about public funding are informed by the best practices of our communities and grantees.

ARCHIVES

ECFC members can login to view related resources from both discussions and to request livestream recordings, or contact Rena Large for assistance.