Annual Budget and Tax Briefing

Watch Party Goals

The purpose of the watch parties is to help state and local funders:

• Gain a better understanding of this year’s pressing federal budget and tax issues;
• Discuss with peers the implications for programs serving struggling workers, families, and communities; and
• Consider grantmaking strategies and opportunities for collaboration with like-minded stakeholders.

Why Federal Budget and Tax Policy Matters to State and Local Funders 

States get about one-third of their revenue from the federal government — funds that help pay for health care, schools, housing, roads, child care, job training, and a range of other programs. Unlike the federal government, most states and localities must balance their budgets every year and are directly affected by fluctuations in federal funding, presenting state policymakers with important choices regarding how to adjust their own spending in response.

State budgets are expected to shrink substantially in 2025, as the post-pandemic era of federal aid, record spending, and historic tax cuts comes to a close. Policymakers will face difficult decisions about whether to raise taxes or reduce critical programs and services like food assistance, Medicaid, housing, and education investments. In addition, the expiration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act presents an urgent moment to ensure states and localities have the revenues they need to invest in programs for children and families and an opportunity to correct our course towards a more equitable tax code. These debates and their outcomes will touch every corner of philanthropic work — early childhood, health care, state, and local government services, climate change, housing, senior services, family support services, and much more.

Local Watch Party Logistics

• There is no fee to participate.
• The only technology needed is an internet connection.
• Watch parties can view the federal budget and tax outlook session and/or the state budet and tax outlook session live or as a recording at a later date.
• EOF will provide a Zoom link to share with registrants.
• As a watch party host, you set up (and co-brand) registration for your watch party.
• Hosts can provide supplemental programming (in-person or virtual), where participants view the federal budget and tax outlook presentation (live or a recording) and then engage in a discussion with local experts on how the current landscape impacts critical programs and services in their state or around a particular issue area (e.g. workforce development or child care and early learning). We recommend scheduling your supplemental program within 4 weeks of the live stream to ensure the content is timely and up-to-date. Watch party hosts can watch the live stream/recording during their supplemental program or share the link as pre-viewing for their program. Hosts also have the option of sharing the state budget and tax outlook Zoom link or recording as pre-viewing for their program.
• For hosts who don’t have the bandwidth to provide supplemental programming, it is also possible to just share the Zoom link(s) with your registrants.
• We ask that hosts share watch party details (number of registrants, as well as the date, time, venue, and speakers of a supplemental program if applicable) so that we can track participation.
• Watch party hosts will be recognized on the EOF website and meeting materials.

Virtual Budget and Tax Briefing for Grantmakers
[Date, Time]
[Host, Location Address]

Sample Agenda

• State Budgets Are Downsizing: After several years of rapid growth, many states are curbing spending amid uncertain revenue conditions in fiscal 2025, By Liz Farmer, The Pew Charitable Trusts, July 15, 2024.
• How the Federal Income Tax System Can Worsen Racial Disparities, Urban Institute, February 14, 2024
• Tracking the Fallout From State Tax Cuts: This new resource from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities features stories, case studies analyses of the latest tax developments related to state tax cuts.
• PEW Fiscal 50: State Trends and Analysis: This interactive resource from The Pew Charitable Trusts, allows you to sort and analyze data on key fiscal, economic, and demographic trends in the 50 states and understand their impact on states’ fiscal health.
• Urban Institute State Fiscal Briefs: National recessions and federal tax and spending changes can affect budgets in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. And big policy questions, such as whether to increase teacher salaries or expand health care access, can pop up in many states at the same time. But each state faces unique economic, political, cultural, and historical pressures that affect how fiscal issues emerge and how problems are resolved. That’s why the State and Local Finance Initiative put together these 51 briefs, detailing the dynamics that influence major policy issues in each state.