Congress is poised to make fiscal decisions that could help thousands of working Arkansas families, reduce our federal deficit and strengthen our economy. By reviewing nearly a decade's worth of data on tax cuts and fiscal policies, members of Congress have clear evidence on what helps working families-and what utterly fails them.

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families offers these recommendations for helping our families not only weather this recession, but giving them the boost they need to help pull our state and national economies out of the downturn.

1. Extend the 2001-2003 middle class tax cuts.
2. Make the Estate Tax permanent at 2009 levels.
3. Freeze the Capital Gains and Dividends Rate at the pre-2003 level.
4. Allow the upper income marginal rate cuts to expire on schedule.

A year after the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, we also have data to support recommendations for permanently extending several tax provisions that help low-income working families.

In addition to our policy recommendations for treatment of the 2001-2003 tax cuts, we propose another strategy to improve our nation's fiscal solvency by requiring the richest Americans to pay their fair share.

1. Extend the ARRA improvements to refundable tax credits, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and American Opportunity Tax Credit to help working families.
2. Freeze the value of itemized deductions for the two highest income brackets.

Read AACF's latest report, "Federal Tax Policy and Arkansas: Recommendations for Moving Forward in 2010" for more on our federal policy recommendations.