The Filer Voter experiment, conducted in 2018, assessed the effectiveness of conducting voter registration drives at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites for lower-income households in Cleveland and Dallas. The Filer Voter program doubled the likelihood of unregistered voters registering...
In this testimony before the New York Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Kim Rueben examines New York State’s education funding formula and how limits in state aid amounts affect different low-income students. While New York State has one of the highest per...
The earned income tax credit provides substantial assistance to low- and moderate-income workers. Benefits tilt heavily to families with children. Prompted in part by the success of the credit and in part by shortcomings in the credit, policymakers, advocates, and analysts have offered up reform...
The cost-of-living refund (CLR), a proposal from the Economic Security Project, would revise the current earned income tax credit (EITC) by increasing benefits for many people, expanding eligibility for the credit, and paying the credit in advance via monthly payments. The proposal would provide...
This paper provides estimates of the total cost of and distributional effects of nonbusiness tax expenditures claimed on individual tax returns after enactment of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, taking account of interactions among provisions. Nonbusiness tax expenditures will reduce tax...
This research brief and accompanying state fact sheets explore what would happen if the EITC for childless adults was expanded significantly. Through both national and state-level estimates, we show the number of workers who would become newly eligible for the EITC and the increase in EITC...
This report analyzes a straightforward mechanism to mitigate middle-class wage stagnation: a wage tax credit of 100 percent of earnings up to a maximum credit of $10,000, called a universal earned income tax credit. The child tax credit would increase from $2,000 to $2,500 and be made fully...
One year after the Supreme Court overturned the federal restriction on state authorization of legal sports gambling, seven states allow and tax sports wagers and several others are close to joining them. But despite sports betting’s ostensible popularity, the resulting state tax revenue is and...
The Filer Voter experiment assessed the effectiveness of conducting voter registration drives at sites providing free income tax preparation assistance to low-and moderate-income households in Cleveland, OH, and Dallas, TX. We find that the program doubled the likelihood of unregistered tax...
Effective marginal tax rates measure how a household’s material resources change as its earned income rises. For example, when a household’s earnings from work rise by $100, its net resources may rise by less than $100 as those earnings may be subject to payroll and federal, state, and local...
The Filer Voter Experiment: How Effective is Voter Registration at Tax Time?
The Filer Voter experiment, conducted in 2018, assessed the effectiveness of conducting voter registration drives at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites for lower-income households in Cleveland and Dallas. The Filer Voter program doubled the likelihood of unregistered voters registering...
School Funding in New York State: Does the Current Formula Ensure Access for Students of Color?
In this testimony before the New York Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Kim Rueben examines New York State’s education funding formula and how limits in state aid amounts affect different low-income students. While New York State has one of the highest per...
Redesigning the EITC: Issues in Design, Eligibility, Delivery, and Administration
The earned income tax credit provides substantial assistance to low- and moderate-income workers. Benefits tilt heavily to families with children. Prompted in part by the success of the credit and in part by shortcomings in the credit, policymakers, advocates, and analysts have offered up reform...
Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit: The Economic Security Project’s Cost-of-Living Refund
The cost-of-living refund (CLR), a proposal from the Economic Security Project, would revise the current earned income tax credit (EITC) by increasing benefits for many people, expanding eligibility for the credit, and paying the credit in advance via monthly payments. The proposal would provide...
Distributional Effects of Individual Income Tax Expenditures After the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
This paper provides estimates of the total cost of and distributional effects of nonbusiness tax expenditures claimed on individual tax returns after enactment of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, taking account of interactions among provisions. Nonbusiness tax expenditures will reduce tax...
Expanding the EITC for Workers without Resident Children
This research brief and accompanying state fact sheets explore what would happen if the EITC for childless adults was expanded significantly. Through both national and state-level estimates, we show the number of workers who would become newly eligible for the EITC and the increase in EITC...
A Universal EITC: Sharing the Gains from Economic Growth, Encouraging Work, and Supporting Families
This report analyzes a straightforward mechanism to mitigate middle-class wage stagnation: a wage tax credit of 100 percent of earnings up to a maximum credit of $10,000, called a universal earned income tax credit. The child tax credit would increase from $2,000 to $2,500 and be made fully...
States Learn to Bet on Sports: The Prospects and Limitations of Taxing Legal Sports Gambling
One year after the Supreme Court overturned the federal restriction on state authorization of legal sports gambling, seven states allow and tax sports wagers and several others are close to joining them. But despite sports betting’s ostensible popularity, the resulting state tax revenue is and...
The Filer Voter experiment: How effective is voter registration at tax time?
The Filer Voter experiment assessed the effectiveness of conducting voter registration drives at sites providing free income tax preparation assistance to low-and moderate-income households in Cleveland, OH, and Dallas, TX. We find that the program doubled the likelihood of unregistered tax...
Estimating Marginal Tax Rates Using a Microsimulation Model
Effective marginal tax rates measure how a household’s material resources change as its earned income rises. For example, when a household’s earnings from work rise by $100, its net resources may rise by less than $100 as those earnings may be subject to payroll and federal, state, and local...