This week, Susan Webb, president and co-founder of the National Employment Network Association (NENA), offered testimony about the Ticket to Work program before the US House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee. Workers referred to an employer through the Ticket to Work program constitute one of the WOTC program’s qualifying targeted groups.
As part of Ms. Webb’s written testimony, she recommended increasing the value of the WOTC tax credit and then linking its future value to changes in inflation. These are her words:
“NENA recommends that the WOTC be evaluated at its next reauthorization to consider increasing it to attract the interest of more employers. The WOTC and the amount of the credit was established in 1996. Using the Consumer Price Index Calculator found at www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm, if the credit had been increased each year consistent with inflation, the rate would currently be $3,250. We recommend increasing it to that level and indexing it each year from there.”
The WOTC program is currently authorized through August of 2011. Each time the program expires, it faces the question of re-authorization — a process that has been repeated multiple times since the mid 1990’s when the WOTC Program was created. While Ms. Webb recommended that the credit be increased at its next re-authorization, many proponents of the program are also urging Congress to make the tax credit program permanent. This would avoid the debilitating uncertainties associated with its frequent reauthorizations.