Current:Home > StocksKansas is poised to expand tax credit for helping disabled workers after debate over low pay-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Kansas is poised to expand tax credit for helping disabled workers after debate over low pay
View Date:2024-12-23 23:59:37
Kansas is poised to expand an income tax credit for goods and services purchased from companies and nonprofits employing disabled workers, a year after a debate over how much the state should buck a national trend against paying those workers below the minimum wage.
A bill approved by the Legislature this week with broad bipartisan support would increase the total tax credits available from $5 million a year to $8 million. It also would create a new, $1 million program for nonprofit groups running vocational programs known as sheltered workshops to help them start paying workers at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
The tax credit had previously only covered purchases from employers paying at least the minimum wage, and lawmakers reviewed it last year because it was set to expire at the start of this year.
It’s the Legislature’s latest attempt to expand the tax credit.
Their first proposal would have allowed nonprofit groups with sheltered workshops to form separate divisions paying at least the minimum wage so that people or businesses buying from those divisions could claim the tax credit. Backers saw it as an opportunity to expand the reach of the tax credit and therefore employment opportunities for disabled workers.
But it drew strong opposition from disabled rights groups arguing that it would encourage wages below the minimum wage — a vestige of decades-old views of disabled people as incapable of doing jobs outside such programs.
The compromise last year was to start the grant program instead. However, the Republican-controlled Legislature folded it into an omnibus tax-cut bill with provisions opposed by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, and she vetoed it.
The tax credit then expired at the start of this year, but this year’s bill is written so that people can still claim the tax credit when they file their 2023 returns.
“It’s a good compromise,” said Neil Romano, a member of the National Council on Disability, and former head of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy. “It moves us towards where we want to be.”
Kelly hasn’t said publicly whether she will sign the bill, but she typically has when a measure has near-universal support.
Employers nationally are increasingly moving away from paying below the minimum wage, U.S. government data shows. Paying below the minimum wage requires a Department of Labor certificate, and a U.S. Government Accountability Office report last year said there were 2,750 American employers with certificates in 2014, while an online database listed 834 as of Jan. 1, a drop of 70%. In Kansas, 17 groups have them.
Fourteen states ban below-minimum-wage jobs for disabled workers, with Virginia enacting a law last year, according to the Association of People Supporting Employment First, which promotes inclusive job policies.
In Kansas, there remains “considerable work to be done” to move away from below-minimum-wage jobs, said Sara Hart Weir, executive director of the Kansas Council on Developmental Disabilities.
But, she added, “This is a step in the right direction.”
Rocky Nichols, executive director of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, said it’s good that the tax credit is back and the state is signaling that it wants to move away from sheltered workshops through the grant program.
But he also said he worries the measure isn’t specific enough about how and when groups must transition away from paying below the minimum wage.
“We don’t want to see it turn into just kind of a slush fund for sheltered workshops,” he said.
veryGood! (954)
Related
- Dallas Long, who won 2 Olympic medals while dominating the shot put in the 1960s, has died at 84
- Complaints over campaign comments by Wisconsin Supreme Court justice are dismissed
- Brian Kelly calls LSU a 'total failure' after loss to Florida State. No argument here
- A 2-year-old's body was found in trash, police say. His father's been charged with killing him.
- Skiing legend Lindsey Vonn ends retirement, plans to return to competition
- Owner of collapsed Iowa building that killed 3 people files lawsuit blaming engineering company
- America’s small towns are disbanding police forces, citing hiring woes. It’s not all bad
- Travis Barker Makes Cameo in Son Landon's TikTok After Rushing Home From Blink-182 Tour
- The View's Sara Haines Walks Off After Whoopi Goldberg's NSFW Confession
- Fire destroys bowling alley in North Dakota town
Ranking
- Former Disney Star Skai Jackson Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby With Her Boyfriend
- Domestic violence charges dropped against Arizona Coyotes minority owner Andrew Barroway
- America’s small towns are disbanding police forces, citing hiring woes. It’s not all bad
- Revisiting Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner's Love Story Will Have You Sending Out an S.O.S
- Song Jae-lim, Moon Embracing the Sun Actor, Dead at 39
- Prosecutors in all 50 states urge Congress to strengthen tools to fight AI child sexual abuse images
- Dangerous rip currents along Atlantic coast spur rescues, at least 3 deaths
- Fan ejected from US Open match after German player said the man used language from Hitler’s regime
Recommendation
-
Trump breaks GOP losing streak in nation’s largest majority-Arab city with a pivotal final week
-
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un may meet with Putin in Russia this month, US official says
-
Dozens injured after Eritrean government supporters, opponents clash at protest in Israel
-
Colorado, Duke surge into the AP Top 25 after huge upsets; Florida State climbs into top five
-
NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Bobby Allison dies at 86
-
Missing artifacts from WWII Nazi code breaker and a father of modern computing found with Colorado woman
-
Amid dispute with Spectrum, Disney urges cable viewers to switch to its Hulu+ service
-
Minnesota seeks unifying symbol to replace state flag considered offensive to Native Americans