During the Week of June 16, 2019, NEON filed its comments to the Senate Finance Committee’s tax extender’s Task Force on Employment and Community Development. NEON testified before the Task Force and emphasized WOTC’s public assistance savings, employer acceptance of the program, the flexibility of the WOTC platform, program growth as a result of the five-year PATH Act extension, and the need for a seamless permanent extension. We also discussed program improvements with an emphasis on the positive impact of lifting the age ceiling on WOTC eligibility for SNAP recipients. In addition, we referenced bills that have been introduced that would make eligible Transitional Foster Care Youth, S. 1651 and those on Social Security Disability Insurance, S. 255.

The Task Force was quite supportive of WOTC. We were asked about our savings estimates and why we don’t get credit for them. We referenced our meeting between Dr. Cappelli and the head of the Joint Committee on Taxation during which we were told that they believe the program more than pays for itself. However, the Joint Committee recommended we speak with the Congressional Budget Office since the Joint Committee on Taxation only estimates the impact on revenues of changes to the tax law, and not the impact on spending programs. We explained that CBO can only estimate total annual program costs, but not how a program like WOTC impacts those costs.