I believe that we can work toward providing a strong safety net for all people—and that the tax system will always be an important part of that effort.
For children to thrive, they need to have their basic needs met. When needs go unmet, children’s opportunities are compromised. The Census Bureau estimates that 12.4 percent of children were living below the poverty line in 2022, a tremendous jump from the 5.2 percent of children living in...
This public comment highlights the usefulness of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) for analyzing family dynamics, income support, and income changes throughout the year and over longer time periods. If the Census Bureau follows through with a proposal to reduce the SIPP...
The federal government invests more than $500 billion annually in children through direct cash payments, including tax credits, and in-kind goods such as childcare, education, food subsidies, and healthcare coverage. This represents about 10 percent of the federal budget. Research shows these...
Benefits from the earned income tax credit (EITC) and child tax credit (CTC) play an important role in the financial lives of low- and moderate-income families. Determining how much credit a family qualifies for can be complicated, depending primarily on the number of eligible children, income,...
Both the US and the UK experienced dramatic slowdowns in economic activity in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Each enacted large-scale responses targeted at workers, and in addition, the US extended direct cash aid broadly through economic impact payments (EIPs) and then to most parents with...
Representatives Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) and Michelle Steel (R-CA) have introduced the Working Families Tax Cut Act to increase the standard deduction – which would increase...
Benefits from safety net programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) and tax programs such as the Earned Income Tax...
President Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget would revive 2021’s enhanced child tax credit (CTC) with some new twists that seek to make the credit work...
In a year when child poverty has risen substantially following the expiration of temporary tax benefits, Washington intransigence over raising the debt ceiling could put...
In 2021, Congress enacted sweeping legislation that temporarily cut child poverty nearly in half . A key feature was the expanded child tax credit (CTC),...
Even though jobs are plentiful and wages are up, many families still face a shaky economic outlook. Higher than average inflation, which tends to hit...
As President Biden and congressional Democrats make another push to reach a compromise on a social spending, climate change, and tax bill, a key issue...
As Congress struggles to develop a scaled back version of President Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) plan, some observers (including my TPC colleague Howard Gleckman...
In 2021, the Child Tax Credit (CTC), helped nearly all families with children . But this year, because American Rescue Plan (ARP) expansions have lapsed,...
Starting in July, many parents began receiving monthly payments of the Child Tax Credit (CTC). A new IPSOS survey as well as Urban Institute interviews...
As Congress debates whether to extend the major, but temporary, changes to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) it adopted earlier this year, a crucial question...
Families began receiving monthly Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments on July 15. For many, those regular payments—currently permitted through the end of the year—will combat...
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig told the Senate Finance Committee on April 13 that the agency could begin delivering monthly 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments...
