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Date: 2/2/2022
SPRINGFIELD – State Sen. Eric Lesser sat down with Anne Kandilis of Springfield WORKS and Regina Hudson of the Springfield Partners for Community Action to discuss the impacts of the Cliff Effect.
Lesser described the Cliff Effect as a common but under discussed phenomena in the economic aid sphere. “A lot of our benefits are tiered by income, except it’s not like a slope in terms of what you’re eligible for or not, it’s a cliff. When you hit a certain income level, all those benefits turn off for you,” said Lesser. The state senator expressed his belief that this effect disincentivizes aid participants from growing from their current position in fear they will lose financial support.
To correct the dynamic, Lesser highlighted the efforts of Springfield WORKS, which created a test pilot program to allow participants to utilize state earned income tax credit to tier benefits more effectively.
The state senator said he is supporting this program on a legislative level in a bill co-sponsored by local state Rep. Patricia Duffy, state Rep. Carlos Gonzalez and state Sen. Adam Gomez to make Kandilis’ program a reality.
Hudson discussed her expertise on the Cliff Effect as someone in the financial field over the past seven years. The Cliff Effect registered a personal impact on Hudson, who shared she gradually lost her daycare voucher after growing in her career. “If I wasn’t able to have a family member able to help me, I wouldn’t have been able to proceed in my career. This is something a lot of families struggle with,” said Hudson.
Kandilis highlighted her passion behind limiting the Cliff Effect’s impact, sharing that she and her organization want to see families grow rather than allowing dated barriers to impact the masses. “We need to create that true economic opportunity for all of us in Massachusetts. Passing this legislation is one way to do that,” said Kandilis.
Lesser detailed the specifics of the bill, which if passed, would create a three-year pilot for 100 families across the state. By utilizing the state earned income tax credit, the state senator believes there will be a more gradual easement of relied-upon state benefits. He also expressed that this program could improve the economy as a whole, particularly in increasing the work force and curbing the impacts of inflation.
Kandilis said Springfield WORKS has been modeling the pilot program on a local level, but stresses the need of legislative support to further the program.
“We have been testing what this looks like for families we’ve been working with…We really need that legislative vehicle in order to truly test why we think the earned income tax credit is a great vehicle to remove the cliff,” said Kandilis.
Readers can watch the full conversation https://www.facebook.com/senatorlesser/videos/478045390516558.