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.
This year, Congress will consider what may be the biggest tax bill in decades. This is one of a series of briefs the Tax Policy Center has prepared to help people follow the debate. Each focuses on a key tax policy issue that Congress and the Trump administration may address. This brief...
During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump proposed three new tax benefits related to child care – an expanded credit for low-income families, a deduction for higher income families, and a savings account. These proposals bring attention to the burden child care costs can place on low- and...
The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 requires the IRS to delay tax refunds for taxpayers who claim an earned income tax credit or additional child tax credit on their returns until at least February 15. The delay could help the IRS better check claims for these credits. But this...
The income tax provisions related to families and work—filing status, rate schedules, the standard deduction, personal exemptions, the child and earned income tax credits, and the taxation of dependents—are complex, too small to encourage work for many low earners, and unfair to some families....
This brief analyzes seven options for Child Tax Credit reform that would (1) make the CTC more consistent with other parts of the tax code; (2) target additional benefits to young children; or (3) broadly increase the credit for most current recipients.
The American family is changing. Individuals marry later, divorce more frequently, or live together without being married. Nonmarital births, complex custody arrangements, and multiple generations of families living together are more common, but the tax system has not kept pace. Although tax...
Marco Rubio’s tax proposal would convert the federal income tax into a consumption tax by not taxing investment income of individuals and by converting the corporate income tax into a cash-flow consumption tax. It would replace most deductions and exemptions with a universal credit; eliminate...
The federal child tax credit provides a credit of up to $1,000 per child under age 17; the refundable portion of the credit, which is crucial for low-income families, is limited to 15 percent of earnings above a defined threshold. That threshold is set to increase from $3,000 to almost $15,000...
The earned income tax credit (EITC) is the most effective antipoverty program targeted to working-age households, delivering $60 annually. Critics note a relatively high error rate – with errors often stemming from complicated rules about who counts as a “qualifying child”. We analyze data from...
A handful of the remaining Democratic presidential candidates remain committed to increasing the earned income tax credit (EITC), particularly for workers without children at home...
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) significantly changed how families with children were treated under the individual income tax, but for many - changed...
Senate Democrats have rallied around the Working Families Tax Relief Act (WFTRA) that would significantly expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and more modestly...
High-profile Democrats are floating ambitious proposals to reduce economic pressure on working Americans by expanding or supplementing tax credits for low- and middle-income families. These...
For many US households, the ongoing partial government shutdown is inconvenient. But for low-income households, it may become a severe hardship. If the shutdown goes...
Some low- and middle-income families in Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, and North Dakota are facing state income tax hikes. And the larger the family, generally...
Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) is proposing to raise the incomes of working families through a new tax proposal called the “LIFT (Livable Incomes for Families...
The District of Columbia is considering a creative new plan to transform the city’s earned income tax credit (EITC) from a one-time payment received at...
The final version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) generally adopted the Senate provisions that directly affect families with children. As a result,...
President Trump and House Republicans promised families a significant increase in the Child Tax Credit (CTC) . The House Ways & Means Committee’s Tax Cuts...
The Big Six Unified Framework promises a tax plan that “significantly increases the Child Tax Credit (CTC)”, but provides few details. If the child tax...
Lawmakers of both parties have been talking about restructuring the refundable tax credits, such as the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit,...
President Trump and lawmakers such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) agree that the child tax credit should be improved. They might consider increasing the credit...
President Trump, perhaps spurred on by his daughter Ivanka, wants to use the tax code to provide new government assistance to families with children. During...
