The Saver's Bonus Hits the Road

The Asset Building Program's Saver's Bonus proposal has logged some miles over the last few weeks and is fast becoming the Waldo of policy proposals. Any why not? It's a versatile policy that's relevant to so many constituencies. 

On May 20th, The Saver's Bonus appeared at the Stepping Stones Research Briefing an event co-sponsored by the Washington Women's Area Foundation and the Urban Institute to elevate research with implications for increasing economic security and financial independence for low-income, women-headed families. Nationally, almost 60 percent of working women headed households with children are low-income, or earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty line and are eligible for refundable tax credits are designed to support families with children. We would expect a policy like The Saver's Bonus that leverages the tax refund to disproportionately benefit these households. This expectation is borne out by the demographics of participants in $aveNYC, a real world demonstration of The Saver's Bonus. 77 percent of participants were women, percent had dependent children, and 89 percent were unmarried. The Saver's Bonus could play a valuable role in increasing the financial stability of these families and expanding their opportunities for the future.

Next, it was on to Chicago where The Saver's Bonus was featured in a session at the National Community Tax Coalition's national conference on "Incentivizing Savings at Tax Time." The session highlighted the experiences of two pilot programs, Ramp-Up run by the United Way of Los Angeles and $aveNYC (currently operating as SaveUSA), both designed to increase savings among low-income households at tax time. The panelists, Victor Ramirez from Citi on behalf of Ramp-Up and Tamara Lindsay on behalf of SaveUSA, discussed how the need for this type of model emerged in their communities, how each was designed and some of their key findings to date, and options for further replicating this model, either by other local governments and non-profits or by a national policy. In particular, the discussion focused on The Saver’s Bonus as the legislative vehicle to take this model with success proven at the local level to a national scale.

Finally, it was back home to D.C. where it was included at the RESULTS International Conference as a policy solution to the expanding wealth gap. As a matter of routine The Saver's Bonus does not typically make early morning appearances on the weekend, but it believes strongly in the power of citizen activists to mobilize the political will necessary to affect policy change in the interest of the low-income families that are often without a voice in the public discourse, and it is excited that RESULTS has made it a priority of their 2011 domestic campaign that will be elevated as its volunteers take to the Hill tomorrow.

Where will The Saver's Bonus pop-up next? If it keeps up this momentum, hopefully one of the next places you'll catch it is on your federal tax return.