One key need this year is tax relief for low-wage workers who have lost earnings in 2020 because of the pandemic and recession.

They risk losing some or all of their EITC or CTC if policymakers don't enact a "lookback" that would let them use their 2019 earnings to calculate their tax credits for this year.

For example, a single mother with two kids whose earnings fell from $15,000 in 2019 to $5,000 in 2020 would lose $5,410 in tax credits on top of her $10,000 loss in wages.

If policymakers enact a “lookback,” she could use her 2019 earnings to calculate her EITC and CTC, and receive the same credit she did last year, eliminating the big loss.

In the CARES Act of March, the President and Congress provided a similar lookback for highly indebted corporations, boosting the deductions they can take for the interest payments on their debt when they file their tax returns for 2020.

If policymakers can provide a lookback for companies such as those owned by leveraged buyout firms, they surely can provide a lookback for many low-wage working families who are struggling to pay their rent or mortgage and meet other basic needs: https://www.cbpp.org/blog/congress-must-help-struggling-families-as-it-helped-highly-indebted-companies