1、CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress INSIGHTINSIGHTi i COVID-19 and Direct Payments to Individuals: Historical Precedents Gene Falk Specialist in Social Policy March 19, 2020 Members of Congress and the Trump Administration have signaled their support for making direct payment
2、s to individuals to address the economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak. In current discussions, these payments are sometimes framed in terms of “universal basic income” or UBI proposals. In the past when these proposals were madeand sometimes enactedthey were framed in terms of providing econom
3、ic stimulus. Historical Precedents There are historical precedents for such payments; most of these were done through the federal income tax code. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sent checks to taxpayers in 1975, 2001, and 2008. An issue with using the IRS to make payments to individuals is that
4、payments generally have been restricted to those who file federal income tax returns. Those who do not file tax returns generally include populations such as retirees, disabled individuals, and low-income individuals who have no earnings. The 1975 legislation included direct payments to retirees rec
