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Senate adopts S.51 conference report: child and veteran tax changes advance, unpaid caregiver credit removed for further work
Summary
The Vermont Senate unanimously accepted the S.51 conference report, enacting a package of tax changes including expansions to the child tax credit, earned income tax credit changes, and new veteran tax credits while removing an unpaid caregiver credit from the final conference report pending further study by the tax department.
The Vermont Senate accepted and adopted the conference committee report on S.51 and then messaged the actions to the governor. The vote on the conference report was recorded as 28 yeas, 0 nays.
Senator Cummings, the senior senator from the Washington District and a conferee on the bill, told the Senate the conference package replaces a standalone unpaid caregiver tax credit with several other tax provisions. "When the bill came back to us that provision had been struck," he said, and described the package that remained in the conference report: a child tax credit protected from federal‑number requirements, an expansion of the state Earned Income Tax Credit to increase benefits for childless earners, staged increases in Social Security deductions, adjustments for civil service and military retirement exclusions, and a new tax credit targeted at certain veterans with low incomes.
The caregiver tax credit — originally proposed as a refundable credit up to $2,000 for qualifying unpaid caregivers — was removed from the conference report after the tax department raised administrative concerns. Conferees said the tax department identified difficulties in estimating the program cost and in creating verifiable documentation for hours of care; the proposal relied in part on a physician’s attestation of difficulties with activities of daily living but lacked a method for documenting hours. Conferees said they accepted the House version of the conference report with the understanding that the caregiver credit would be revisited and refined so the tax department could administer it.
The conference package includes the following notable items described on the floor: a modification to Vermont’s child tax credit so eligible residents without a federal tax identification number would still receive the state credit in some circumstances; expansion of the state Earned Income Tax Credit to provide more parity for individuals without children; staged increases in allowable Social Security deductions (moving a bracket up by $5,000, for example); and a veterans’ credit that provides $250 for taxpayers with adjusted gross income (AGI) up to $25,000, with a sliding calculation for AGIs between $25,000 and $30,000.
Senators expressed both support and disappointment. One senator praised the veteran provisions as “a huge step,” saying she had worked for years on legislation to help veterans. Another senator expressed disappointment that the unanimous Senate‑passed caregiver credit in S.51 was not reflected in the conference report and urged the tax department to prepare a report and workable mechanism during the off‑session.
The Senate adopted the conference committee report by roll call (28–0) and then, by suspension of the rules, messaged the actions to the governor forthwith.
