Tax Policy Center

Experts

Kevin Werner

Research Associate

Understanding the effects of government programs is vital to combatting poverty.

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Research report

Public benefit programs have the potential to help stabilize families when their income drops and can provide support as parents enter or reenter the workforce. As a family’s earnings rise, though, those earnings increases are often offset by declines in public...

January 11, 2022
Theresa AndersonAmelia CoffeyHannah DalyHeather HahnElaine MaagKevin Werner

This piece looks at how an additional round of $1,400 economic impact payments would reduce poverty in each state. The project page includes an interactive map with a fact sheet for each state and DC, as a supplement to an earlier research brief on cash payments and poverty

September 20, 2021
Elaine MaagKevin Werner
Brief

Four major policies in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) will reduce the number of people in poverty in 2021 from 44 million to 28 million – shrinking the overall poverty rate from 13.7 percent to 8.7 percent. Additional $1,400 payments could further reduce poverty to between 6.4 and 6.6 percent,...

March 30, 2021
Elaine MaagKevin Werner
Brief

The federal earned income tax credit (EITC) is a refundable tax credit that provides substantial cash benefits to low-income working families with children. Working adults without children at home— including noncustodial parents, who are considered “childless” for tax purposes—also face economic...

May 30, 2019
Elaine MaagKevin WernerLaura Wheaton