Brief

Postsecondary education can be a critical step toward financial independence. Total college costs in California may present an extraordinary financial burden. For students with incomes under $30,000 in California, the cost of attendance at public universities (after accounting for existing grant...

March 3, 2021
Elaine MaagNikhita Airi
Brief

Pervading the history and tax laws applying to foundations is a persistent suspicion of the wealthy and of concentrated power, while the battles between foundations and Congress largely center on who has control over the uses of wealth. Foundation laws, and by extension, laws proposed or enacted...

February 8, 2021
C. Eugene SteuerleBenjamin Soskis
Brief

Workers without children living at home, called “childless” for tax purposes, are eligible for relatively small benefits from the earned income tax credit (EITC). We analyze the effect of increasing the EITC for this group and extending benefits to workers ages 19 and older, rather than...

February 4, 2021
Elaine MaagNikhita Airi
Brief

How much has the COVID-19 pandemic changed America’s fiscal future and affected President-elect Biden’s opportunity to set a new course for fiscal policy? Largely as a consequence of the pandemic, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in September projected a deficit of more than $3 trillion for...

December 30, 2020
Erald KolasiC. Eugene Steuerle
Brief

Postsecondary education can be a critical step on the path toward economic independence, but many low-income students who are independent for tax purposes face tremendous financial difficulties when trying to complete postsecondary school. Extending the Economic Security Project’s cost-of-living...

December 17, 2020
Elaine MaagNikhita AiriSandy BaumKim S. Rueben
Brief

A taxpayer’s decision to itemize deductions or to claim the standard deduction on their income tax return is often framed as a simple calculation: Claim the greater of the two so as to minimize tax liability. But in states that require taxpayers to use the same status on their state income tax...

December 2, 2020
David Weiner
Brief

This policy brief shows that the COVID-19 pandemic and associated policy responses substantially raised federal deficits, but only on a temporary basis. We project that the debt-to-GDP ratio, currently 98 percent, will rise to 190 percent in 2050 under current law, compared to a pre-COVID...

November 23, 2020
Alan J. AuerbachWilliam G. Gale
Brief

Every government health program should operate under the same budget constraint that applies to other government programs. Failure to do so represents bad budgeting and economic, social, and health policy; redistributes income in perverse ways; and makes health care...

November 6, 2020
C. Eugene Steuerle
Brief

NOTE: This is an updated version of the analysis published November 10, 2020.1

The Tax Policy Center (TPC) has analyzed the macroeconomic effects of the tax proposals that President Joe Biden advanced during his 2020 presidential campaign. We find the...

July 21, 2021
Benjamin R. PageJeffrey RohalyThornton MathesonGordon B. MerminJason DeBackerRichard Evans
Brief

Simplifying the student aid application process and making the system easier for students and families to understand and navigate has long been high on the agenda of policymakers and advocates for college access. Despite progress, the process for completing the Free Application for Federal...

October 19, 2020
Sandy BaumKim S. Rueben