Skip to main content
  • Experts
  • Events
  • Briefing Book
  • Resources
  • About
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Fiscal Facts
Twitter
Facebook
Logo Site
  • Topics
    • Individual Taxes
    • Business Taxes
    • Federal Budget and Economy
    • State and Local Issues
    • Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
  • TaxVox Blog
  • Research & Commentary
  • Laws & Proposals
  • Model Estimates
  • Statistics
  • Features

The Tax Policy Center's

Briefing Book

A citizen’s guide to the fascinating (though often complex) elements of the US tax system.

Tax Policy Center Briefing Book

Key Elements of the U.S. Tax System

  • Briefing Book
  • Taxes and the Poor
  • How does the federal tax system affect low-income households?
  • Chapters
    • Introduction
      • Introduction
        • Introduction
    • Some Background
      • Federal Budget
        • What are the sources of revenue for the federal government?
        • How does the federal government spend its money?
        • What is the breakdown of revenues among federal, state, and local governments?
        • How do US taxes compare internationally?
      • Federal Budget Process
        • How does the federal budget process work?
        • What is the history of the federal budget process?
        • What is the schedule for the federal budget process?
        • What is reconciliation?
        • How is a budget resolution enforced?
        • What is PAYGO?
        • What are rescissions?
      • Federal Budget Outlook
        • How accurate are long-run budget projections?
        • What have budget trends been over the short and long term?
        • How much spending is uncontrollable?
        • What are tax extenders?
        • What options would increase federal revenues?
        • What does it mean for a government program to be off-budget?
        • How did the TCJA affect the federal budget outlook?
      • Taxes and the Economy
        • How do taxes affect the economy in the short run?
        • How do taxes affect the economy in the long run?
        • What are dynamic scoring and dynamic analysis?
        • Do tax cuts pay for themselves?
        • On what do economists agree and disagree about the effects of taxes on economic growth?
        • What are the economic effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act?
      • Economic Stimulus
        • What is the role of monetary policy in alleviating economic downturns?
        • What are automatic stabilizers and how do they work?
        • What characteristics make fiscal stimulus most effective?
      • Distribution of Tax Burdens
        • How are federal taxes distributed?
        • Are federal taxes progressive?
        • How should progressivity be measured?
        • What is the difference between marginal and average tax rates?
        • What criticisms are levied against standard distributional analysis?
        • How should distributional tables be interpreted?
        • Who bears the burden of the corporate income tax?
        • Who bears the burden of federal excise taxes?
        • How do financing methods affect the distributional analyses of tax cuts?
        • How do taxes affect income inequality?
      • Tax Expenditures
        • What are tax expenditures and how are they structured?
        • What is the tax expenditure budget?
        • Why are tax expenditures controversial?
        • What are the largest tax expenditures?
        • How did the TCJA affect tax expenditures?
      • Tax Gap and Tax Shelters
        • What is the tax gap?
        • What does the IRS do and how can it be improved?
        • What is a tax shelter?
      • Recent History of the Tax Code
        • What did the 2008–10 tax stimulus acts do?
        • What did the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 do?
        • How did the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act change personal taxes?
        • How did the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act change business taxes?
    • Key Elements of the U.S. Tax System
      • Individual Income Tax
        • What is the standard deduction?
        • What are itemized deductions and who claims them?
        • How did the TCJA change the standard deduction and itemized deductions?
        • What are personal exemptions?
        • How do federal income tax rates work?
        • What are tax credits and how do they differ from tax deductions?
        • How do phaseouts of tax provisions affect taxpayers?
      • Capital Gains and Dividends
        • How are capital gains taxed?
        • What is the effect of a lower tax rate for capital gains?
        • What is carried interest, and how is it taxed?
        • How might the taxation of capital gains be improved?
      • AMT
        • What is the AMT?
        • Who pays the AMT?
        • How much revenue does the AMT raise?
        • How did the TCJA change the AMT?
      • Taxes and the Family
        • What is the child tax credit?
        • What is the adoption tax credit?
        • What is the earned income tax credit?
        • Do all people eligible for the EITC participate?
        • How does the tax system subsidize child care expenses?
        • What are marriage penalties and bonuses?
        • How did the TCJA change taxes of families with children?
      • Taxes and the Poor
        • How does the federal tax system affect low-income households?
        • What is the difference between refundable and nonrefundable credits?
        • Can poor families benefit from the child tax credit?
        • Why do low-income families use tax preparers?
        • How does the earned income tax credit affect poor families?
        • What are error rates for refundable credits and what causes them?
        • How do IRS audits affect low-income families?
      • Taxes and Retirement Saving
        • What kinds of tax-favored retirement arrangements are there?
        • How large are the tax expenditures for retirement saving?
        • What are defined benefit retirement plans?
        • What are defined contribution retirement plans?
        • What types of nonemployer-sponsored retirement savings accounts are available?
        • What are Roth individual retirement accounts?
        • Who uses individual retirement accounts?
        • How does the availability of tax-favored retirement saving affect national saving?
        • What’s the difference between front-loaded and back-loaded retirement accounts?
        • What is an automatic 401(k)?
        • How might low- and middle-income households be encouraged to save?
      • Taxes and Charitable Giving
        • What is the tax treatment of charitable contributions?
        • What entities are tax-exempt?
        • Who benefits from the deduction for charitable contributions?
        • How would various proposals affect incentives for charitable giving?
        • How large are individual income tax incentives for charitable giving?
        • How did the TCJA affect incentives for charitable giving?
      • Taxes and Health Care
        • How much does the federal government spend on health care?
        • Who has health insurance coverage?
        • Which tax provisions subsidize the cost of health care?
        • How does the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance work?
        • What are premium tax credits?
        • What tax changes did the Affordable Care Act make?
        • How do health savings accounts work?
        • How do flexible spending accounts for health care expenses work?
        • What are health reimbursement arrangements and how do they work?
        • How might the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) be reformed?
      • Taxes and Homeownership
        • What are the tax benefits of homeownership?
        • Do existing tax incentives increase homeownership?
      • Taxes and Education
        • What tax incentives exist for higher education?
        • What tax incentives exist to help families pay for college?
        • What tax incentives exist to help families save for education expenses?
        • What is the tax treatment of college and university endowments?
      • Tax Complexity
        • Why are taxes so complicated?
        • What are the benefits of simpler taxes?
        • What policy reforms could simplify the tax code?
      • Wealth Transfer Taxes
        • How do the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes work?
        • Who pays the estate tax?
        • How many people pay the estate tax?
        • What is the difference between carryover basis and a step-up in basis?
        • How could we reform the estate tax?
        • What are the options for taxing wealth transfers?
        • What is an inheritance tax?
      • Payroll Taxes
        • What are the major federal payroll taxes, and how much money do they raise?
        • What is the unemployment insurance trust fund, and how is it financed?
        • What are the Social Security trust funds, and how are they financed?
        • Are the Social Security trust funds real?
        • What is the Medicare trust fund, and how is it financed?
      • Excise Taxes
        • What are the major federal excise taxes, and how much money do they raise?
        • What is the Highway Trust Fund, and how is it financed?
      • Energy and Environmental Taxes
        • What tax incentives encourage energy production from fossil fuels?
        • What tax incentives encourage alternatives to fossil fuels?
        • What is a carbon tax?
      • Business Taxes
        • How does the corporate income tax work?
        • What are pass-through businesses?
        • How are pass-through businesses taxed?
        • Is corporate income double-taxed?
      • Tax Incentives for Economic Development
        • What is the new markets tax credit, and how does it work?
        • What is the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and how does it work?
        • What are Opportunity Zones and how do they work?
      • Taxes and Multinational Corporations
        • How does the current system of international taxation work?
        • How do US corporate income tax rates and revenues compare with other countries’?
        • What are the consequences of the new US international tax system?
        • How does the tax system affect US competitiveness?
        • How would formulary apportionment work?
        • What are inversions, and how will TCJA affect them?
        • What is a territorial tax and does the United States have one now?
        • What is the TCJA repatriation tax and how does it work?
        • What is the TCJA base erosion and anti-abuse tax and how does it work?
        • What is global intangible low-taxed income and how is it taxed under the TCJA?
        • What is foreign-derived intangible income and how is it taxed under the TCJA?
    • How Could We Improve the Federal Tax System?
      • Comprehensive Tax Reform
        • What is comprehensive tax reform?
        • What are the major options for comprehensive tax reform?
      • Broad-Based Income Tax
        • What is a broad-based income tax?
        • What would and would not be taxed under a broad-based income tax?
        • What would the tax rate be under a broad-based income tax?
      • National Retail Sales Tax
        • What is a national retail sales tax?
        • What would and would not be taxed under a national retail sales tax?
        • What would the tax rate be under a national retail sales tax?
        • What is the difference between a tax-exclusive and tax-inclusive sales tax rate?
        • Who bears the burden of a national retail sales tax?
        • Would tax evasion and avoidance be a significant problem for a national retail sales tax?
        • What would be the effect of a national retail sales tax on economic growth?
        • What transition rules would be needed for a national retail sales tax?
        • Would a national retail sales tax simplify the tax code?
        • What can state and local sales taxes tell us about a national retail sales tax?
        • What is the experience of other countries with national retail sales taxes?
        • What did the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform say about the national retail sales tax?
      • Value Added Tax (VAT)
        • What is a VAT?
        • How would a VAT be collected?
        • What would and would not be taxed under a VAT?
        • What would the tax rate be under a VAT?
        • What is the difference between zero rating and exempting a good in the VAT?
        • Who would bear the burden of a VAT?
        • Is the VAT a money machine?
        • How would small businesses be treated under a VAT?
        • What is the Canadian experience with a VAT?
        • Why is the VAT administratively superior to a retail sales tax?
        • What is the history of the VAT?
        • How are different consumption taxes related?
      • Other Comprehensive Tax Reforms
        • What is the flat tax?
        • What is the X-tax?
      • Recent Comprehensive Tax Reform Proposals
        • Simple, Fair, and Pro-Growth: Proposals to Fix America’s Tax System, Report of the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, November 2005
        • The Moment of Truth: Report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, December 2010
        • Debt Reduction Task Force, “Restoring America’s Future,” Bipartisan Policy Center, November 2010
        • The Tax Reform Act of 2014: Fixing Our Broken Tax Code So That It Works for American Families and Job Creators, House Ways and Means Committee
        • The Graetz Competitive Tax Plan, Updated for 2015
      • Return-Free Tax Filing
        • What is return-free filing and how would it work?
        • What are the benefits of return-free filing?
        • What are the drawbacks of return-free filing?
        • How would the tax system need to change with return-free filing?
        • Who would qualify for return-free filing?
        • Would return-free filing raise taxes?
        • What was the experience with return-free filing in California?
        • What other countries use return-free filing?
    • The State of State (and Local) Tax Policy
      • State and Local Revenues
        • What are the sources of revenue for state governments?
        • What are the sources of revenue for local governments?
      • Specific State and Local Taxes
        • How do state and local individual income taxes work?
        • How do state and local sales taxes work?
        • How do state and local property taxes work?
        • How do state and local corporate income taxes work?
        • How do state estate and inheritance taxes work?
        • How do state earned income tax credits work?
        • How do state and local severance taxes work?
        • How do state and local soda taxes work?
        • How do marijuana taxes work?
      • Fiscal Federalism and Fiscal Institutions
        • How does the deduction for state and local taxes work?
        • What are municipal bonds and how are they used?
        • What types of federal grants are made to state and local governments and how do they work?
        • What are state rainy day funds, and how do they work?
        • What are tax and expenditure limits?
        • What are state balanced budget requirements and how do they work?
    • Glossary
      • Glossary
        • Glossary

How does the federal tax system affect low-income households?

Taxes and the Poor

1/7>
Individual Taxes
Q.

How does the federal tax system affect low-income households?

A.

Most low-income households do not pay federal income taxes, typically because they owe no tax (as their income is lower than the standard deduction) or because tax credits offset the tax they would owe. Some receive substantial rebates via refundable tax credits. However, nearly all low-income workers are subject to the payroll tax.

WHAT FEDERAL TAX RATES DO LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS PAY?

Low-income households typically pay some federal tax. The largest tax burden for households in the bottom income quintile (the bottom fifth) tends to come from the payroll tax, followed by excise taxes and a small amount of corporate tax. The average federal tax burden tends to be much lower for low-income households than for high-income households.

The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center estimates that in 2020, households in the lowest income quintile have a negative average income tax rate as a result of refundable credits—namely the earned income tax credit (EITC) and the child tax credit (CTC). That is, the payments the lowest-income households receive from refundable credits exceed any income tax they owe.

In contrast, the average payroll tax rate for households in the lowest income quintile is 6.9 percent (the same as the 6.9 percent average rate for all households). The payroll tax is by far the most significant federal tax for households in the lowest income quintile, in terms of how much they pay.

Of course, low-income households pay federal excise taxes on specific products, including cigarettes, alcohol, and gasoline. Low-income households also indirectly pay some corporate income tax, to the extent that corporations pass tax burdens back to workers’ wages.

WHAT SHARE OF LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS OWE FEDERAL INCOME OR PAYROLL TAX?

About 12 percent of households in the bottom income quintile will pay federal income tax in 2020. In contrast, 64 percent of households in the lowest income quintile will owe payroll taxes. Combined, 65 percent of households in the lowest income quintile will owe federal income or payroll taxes.

In many cases, low-income households owe no income tax. All households can claim a standard deduction to reduce their taxable income, and many families with children can offset income taxes with the child tax credit. In 2020, the standard deduction is $24,800 for married couples, $18,650 for single parents, and $12,400 for singles. Prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, families could also reduce the amount of income they owed tax on by a per-person exemption. The TJCA reduced the personal exemption to $0. Households with income above the standard deduction often still do not owe federal income because they can claim child tax credits, which can offset up to $2,000 of taxes for each child under 17 and $500 for other dependents, including older children.

WHY DO LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS FACE NEGATIVE AVERAGE FEDERAL INCOME TAX RATES?

Households can have negative federal income tax rates if they receive refundable tax credits. The EITC is a refundable credit that subsidizes earnings, particularly for workers with children. The CTC provides workers with children a credit of up to $2,000 per child under age 17, up to $1,400 of which can be received as a refund. Together, these credits deliver substantial assistance to low-income families with children. (A small EITC is also available to childless workers.) If refundable credits exceed taxes owed, households receive the excess as a payment. The net refunds created by these credits show up as negative average tax rates.

The Tax Policy Center estimates that in 2020, the CTC and the EITC together will average $860 for households in the lowest income quintile. About 30 percent of households in the lowest quintile will receive one or both refundable credits (figure 1).

Bar chart comparing average credit and non-zero average credit by income quintile, and share of tax units with credit by income quintile.

HOW HAVE EFFECTIVE TAX RATES FOR LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS CHANGED OVER TIME?

Average tax rates for low-income households have changed markedly over the past quarter-century. Creation of the CTC and expansion of the EITC both lowered the effective individual income tax rate for low-income households from about 0.5 percent in the early 1980s to its negative value today (figure 2). In contrast, the effective payroll tax rate for households in the lowest income quintile increased by more than half over the same period (setting aside the temporary payroll tax reduction in 2011 and 2012). The effective corporate income tax rate borne by low-income households has also fallen since 1979, while the effective excise tax rate rose slightly.

Line chart of average rates for the payroll tax, excise tax, corporate income tax, individual income tax, and total taxes for households in the lowest income quintile.

 

Updated May 2020
Data Sources

Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “Microsimulation Model, version 0319-2.”

———. Table T20-0103. “Distribution of Federal Payroll and Income Taxes by Expanded Cash Income Percentile, 2020.”

Further Reading

Berube, Alan. 2006. “The New Safety Net: How the Tax Code Helped Low-Income Working Families During the Early 2000s.” Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.

Burman, Leonard E., Jeff Rohaly, and Elaine Maag. 2005. “Tax Credits to Help Low-Income Families Pay for Child Care.” Tax Policy Issues and Options Brief 14. Washington, DC: Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Congressional Budget Office. 2019. “The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2016.” Washington, DC: Congressional Budget Office.

Gale, William G., J. Mark Iwry, and Peter Orszag. 2005. “Making the Tax System Work for Low-Income Savers: The Saver’s Credit.” Tax Policy Issues and Options Brief 13. Washington, DC: Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Hamersma, Sarah. 2005. “The Work Opportunity and Welfare-to-Work Tax Credits.” Tax Policy Issues and Options Brief 15. Washington, DC: Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Maag, Elaine. 2006. “Analyzing Recent State Tax Policy Choices Affecting Low-Income Working Families: The Recession and Beyond.” Perspectives on Low-Income Working Families Brief 3. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.

Maag, Elaine, and Deborah Kobes. 2003. “Tax Burden on Poor Families Has Declined over Time.” Tax Notes. February 3.

Individual Taxes
Low-income households
  • ‹Read Previous How did the TCJA change taxes of families with children?
  • Read Next› What is the difference between refundable and nonrefundable credits?
  • Donate Today
  • Topics
  • TaxVox Blog
  • Research & Commentary
  • Laws & Proposals
  • Model Estimates
  • Statistics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Newsletters
Twitter
Facebook
  • © Urban Institute, Brookings Institution, and individual authors, 2022.