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.
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) provides substantial assistance to low-income working families with children. The credit encourages work for many, though may reduce work or wages for some. Counted in the poverty measure, the EITC would have been credited with lifting 6.5 million people out...
This Tax Fact explores the child tax credits refundability thresholds since its inception. Currently, the CTC is a $1,000-per-child credit that is partially refundable for households earning more than $3,000. This Tax Fact explores the distribution of credits when the refundability threshold...
This document reviews several notable tax proposals in President Obamas fiscal year 2015 Budget. These include expanding the earned income tax credit (EITC) for workers without qualifying children, expanding the child and dependent care tax credit for families with young children, conforming...
President Obama and others have proposed increasing the federal earned income tax credit for workers without qualifying children. That would automatically raise state EITCs in the 23 states that calculate a state-level credit for this group as a percentage of the federal credit.
Senator Mike Lee's Family Fairness and Opportunity Tax Reform Act (S.1616) would significantly expand tax benefits for children, repeal the alternative minimum tax, and repeal the Affordable Care Act surtaxes on earnings and net investment income. To partially offset the cost of these provisions...
The federal income tax system provides substantial benefits to families with children. In 2013, the Tax Policy Center estimates that five major child-related tax benefits the earned income tax credit (EITC), the child tax credit, the child and dependent care tax credit, the dependent exemption,...
In 1975, the federal income tax code joined the "War on Poverty" with the enactment of the earned income tax credit (EITC). Today, tax credits form some of the largest and most effective anti-poverty programs in the US. In 2012, the Census Bureau estimated that tax credits cut poverty (under a...
High marginal tax rates can make moving above poverty very difficult for low-income families. These high tax rates result from increasing direct taxes and decreasing transfer payments. A single parent with two children who increases her wages from poverty-level to 150 percent of poverty-level...
Taxes and transfers at the state and federal level can have a large impact on the well-being of low-income families. How large a role states play varies, as demonstrated by the Urban Institutes recently released Net Income Change Calculator (http://nicc.urban.org...
As a Senator, Kamala Harris has proposed broad legislation designed to raise the incomes of low- and middle-income workers via her LIFT (Livable Incomes for...
The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act , HEROES Act, would substantially increase the earned income tax credit (EITC) for workers without children...
The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HEROES Act), passed by the House of Representatives, would temporarily expand the child tax credit (CTC)...
The IRS has done an impressive job delivering over 80 million rebate payments authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. But...
To its credit, the IRS has been quickly distributing the first tranche of rebates authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act...
The federal government’s new coronavirus payments to adults and children will provide much-needed cash to 90 percent of US households. Unfortunately, tens of millions of...
President Trump and some members of Congress are promoting a payroll tax cut to respond to the growing coronavirus outbreak. But if they are looking...
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...
