The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), administered through the federal income tax system, is the largest cash assistance program for low-income families. Data from the 2001 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) show large disparities in who knows about the EITC amongst families with income...

To encourage saving for retirement, private pensions such as employer sponsored 401(k) plans or IRAs receive favorable tax treatment by the federal government. A major goal of such tax provisions is to increase personal saving. A measure of the value of these tax benefits is provided by the...

Management theory holds that the major goals for an organization need to be clearly specified and few in number. When workers are given multiple goals, it is often hard to distinguish among them. Failure to achieve primary goals also becomes easier when one has the excuse that he was working on...

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle gives the Treasury Department tips on how to make the most of their final months before the 2000 election and prepare the Treasury for the future.

Almost no one who has served at the Treasury can help but feel pride at the integrity, vitality, and importance of the institution. With a heritage going back to Alexander Hamilton, time after time it has had to grapple with the economic and financial problems facing the nation--and come up with...

Before 1984, Social Security benefits were exempt from income tax. As part of the Greenspan Commission reforms intended to bolster Social Security's finances, up to 50 percent of Social Security benefits became subject to tax in that year, with proceeds from the income tax allocated to the...

Tax expenditures refer to the revenue losses attributable to provisions of the federal tax laws that deviate from a "normal" tax on income. Although there are debates over precisely what a tax expenditure is, many exclusions, deductions, credits, preferential rates, and deferrals of tax...

An individual's marginal tax rate--the additional tax that would be owed on an additional dollar of income--is an important indicator of how the tax system affects incentives to work, save, and comply with the tax system. It is natural to think of marginal tax rates as identical to the statutory...

Several nonprofit groups such as the Tax Policy Center and Citizens for Tax Justice as well as several governmental entities provide tables on the distributional effects of tax changes. Analysts then suggest that these tax cuts are progressive, proportional or regressive by comparing such...

A person's marginal tax rate, the tax rate on their last dollar of income, may influence their decision to work and save. As marginal tax rates increase, the after-tax reward from working an additional hour or saving more decreases. Although the actual effect on economic decisions is uncertain,...