Tax Reform and Government Aid Programs to Support Low-Income Individuals in District 30

Prepared by: Rodney LaBruce, Candidate for U.S. Congress, TX-30

Unified Advocacy and Leadership Coalition (UALC)

Executive Summary

District 30 families are working harder than ever, yet falling further behind. The problem is not a lack of effort. It is a tax and benefit system that places the heaviest burdens on those with the least resources, while allowing large corporations and the ultra-wealthy to avoid paying their fair share.

This plan modernizes the tax code and safety-net programs to:

• Increase take-home pay for low-income workers.
• Reduce regressive tax burdens that punish poverty.
• Expand work-based credits without driving inflation.
• Close loopholes that drain over a trillion dollars annually from federal revenue.
• Streamline government aid so people get help faster and with less bureaucracy.

The Core Problem

Low-income families in TX-30 face five systemic failures:

1. Inadequate Work Supports
   The Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit no longer reflect today’s economy and exclude millions of struggling workers.
2. A Regressive Tax Structure
   While low-income households may owe less federal income tax, they pay a higher share of their income in payroll, sales, and consumption taxes.
3. Complex and Fragmented Aid Systems
   Families must navigate separate applications for SNAP, Medicaid, housing, child care, and tax credits, often delaying or preventing assistance.
4. Small Business Barriers
   Local entrepreneurs lack access to capital and tax relief that large corporations routinely enjoy.
5. Rampant Tax Avoidance
   Offshore shelters, carried interest, step-up in basis, and like-kind exchanges allow massive wealth transfers to go largely untaxed.

Policy Solutions

1. Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

What changes:

• Increase EITC benefit levels, especially for childless workers.
• Lower eligibility age to 18 and extend it beyond 65 to reflect modern work realities.
• Automatically link EITC to payroll data so workers receive benefits faster.

Why it works:
The EITC directly rewards work and offsets payroll and consumption taxes without injecting broad consumer demand that fuels inflation.

How it’s funded:
By closing high-income loopholes like carried interest and offshore profit shifting.

2. Permanently Strengthen the Child Tax Credit (CTC)

What changes:

• Make the full credit refundable for all low-income families.
• Increase benefit levels for children under five.
• Phase in improvements gradually to avoid economic shocks.

Why it works:
The CTC directly reduces child poverty and offsets regressive taxes families already pay.

3. Targeted Tax Relief for Small Businesses

What changes:

• Startup tax credits for businesses opening in low-income neighborhoods.
• Hiring credits for companies employing low-income workers and apprentices.
• Incentives tied to job creation, not speculation.

Why it works:
It builds real local wealth instead of subsidizing corporate consolidation.

4. Integrate Government Aid Programs

What changes:

• A single online and in-person application for SNAP, Medicaid, TANF, SSI, housing, WIC, child care, and unemployment benefits.
• Real-time eligibility screening across programs.
• Automatic renewals where income remains unchanged.

Why it works:
It reduces administrative waste, eliminates benefit gaps, and gets help to families faster without increasing spending.

5. Close Tax Loopholes & Enforce the Law

Targets for reform:

Loophole

Problem

Fix

Carried Interest

Allows hedge fund managers to pay capital-gains rates

Tax as ordinary income

Offshore Profit Shifting

Corporations hide income abroad

Minimum global tax enforcement

Step-Up in Basis

Untaxed wealth transfer at death

Tax inherited capital gains

1031 Like-Kind Exchanges

Infinite real-estate tax deferral

Cap deferral limits

Excessive Business Deductions

Artificially suppress corporate tax liability

Tighten depreciation rules

Why it works:
Revenue is generated from those most able to pay, not working families.

Why This Does Not Cause Inflation

This plan does not flood the economy with untargeted cash. It:

• Offsets regressive taxes workers already pay.
• Redirects funds from inefficient tax subsidies to working families.
• Uses tax enforcement instead of deficit spending.
• Phases benefits responsibly.

This is structural reform, not stimulus.

Bottom Line for District 30

Poverty does not persist because people are lazy.
It persists because the system taxes work, subsidizes wealth, and buries families in bureaucracy.

This plan flips that script.

We stop rewarding avoidance.
We stop taxing survival.
We start building a tax code that finally works for the people who do.