Janet Ancel Joins Public Assets’ Board

Montpelier – Janet Ancel has been unanimously elected to the board of Public Assets Institute.

A nonpartisan nonprofit in Montpelier, Public Assets Institute is Vermont’s independent research organization on state budget, tax, and economic issues and the source for timely and in-depth state fiscal and policy analysis.

Ancel was the chief architect of Vermont’s groundbreaking state Child Tax Credit, which became law in 2022. Ancel’s state credit was modeled on the pandemic-era expansion of the federal child tax credit, which successfully reduced child poverty by more than forty percent nationwide, with even larger reductions among Black and Hispanic children.

“We are delighted that Janet Ancel has joined us,” said Board Chair Steve Gold, “her leadership on the Vermont Child Tax Credit exemplifies precisely the type of equity-focused, data-driven innovation that Public Assets strives to bring to statewide policy conversations. We look forward to the contribution her leadership and vision will make to our work in the coming years.”

“I am very pleased to join Public Assets’ board. This gives me a chance to continue my work on an equitable, responsive, and progressive revenue system to serve Vermonters.” said Ancel, who recently retired from 18 years in the Vermont Legislature, the last 12 as Chair of House Ways & Means.

Ancel is a graduate of Stanford University (BA, English and History) and the University of Denver (MSW, JD). After many years working with the Legislative Council, Janet was appointed Legal Counsel to Governor Howard Dean and later as Tax Commissioner in the Dean Administration. Her legislative service also included serving as a member of the Joint Fiscal Committee, the Emergency Board, the Joint Legislative Management Committee, the Advisory Committee on the State House, the Health Reform Oversight Committee and the Joint Transportation Oversight Committee. 

She lives in Calais, where she grew up, and is currently a Trustee of the Vermont Historical Society and a Justice of the Peace for the town of Calais.

More information about Public Assets Institute and reports based on its research and analysis are available on its website www.publicassets.org.