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Tax Policy Center

Research & Commentary

Brief
Individual Taxes

Early Lessons on Increasing Participation in The Child Tax Credit

The American Rescue Plan temporarily increased the child tax credit (CTC) in 2021, including extending the credit to families who had not previously filed tax returns. The Internal Revenue Service automatically sent monthly payments of the CTC to families that had filed a tax return in 2019 or...

May 18, 2022
Fay WalkerElaine Maag
Research report
Individual Taxes

An Evaluation of THRIVE East of the River

Direct income supports (such as cash transfers) can stabilize households during crises and recoveries. They show special promise as an equitable means of assisting families of color with low incomes, who because of structural racism are disproportionately affected...

February 24, 2022
Emily Bramhall Olivia FiolPeace GwamElaine MaagEleanor NobleFay Walker
Research report

Balancing at the Edge of the Cliff

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
Research report
Individual Taxes

The Earned Income Tax Credit: Program Outcomes, Payment Timing, and Next Steps for Research

Introduction

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) provides substantial support for working families with low and moderate incomes, including those who may participate in traditional safety net programs, such as TANF. Based on incomes in 2019, the Tax Policy Center...

February 26, 2021
Elaine MaagWilliam J. CongdonEunice Yau
Research report

Boosting Wages or Helping Children? Understanding How New Earnings and Child Tax Credit Proposals Impact Income Inequality and Vulnerable Children

The earned income tax credit (EITC) and child tax credit (CTC) provide substantial benefits to working families with children. The EITC also provides modest benefits to workers without custodial children, often called “childless workers” for tax purposes. Together, the credits lift almost 9...

July 23, 2020
Elaine MaagRobert McClellandC. Eugene Steuerle
Brief
Individual Taxes

Comparing the EITC and Child Tax Credit Proposals

The earned income tax credit (EITC) and child tax credit (CTC) provide substantial benefits to working families with children. The EITC also provides modest benefits to workers without custodial children, often called “childless workers” for tax purposes. Together, the credits lift almost 9...

July 23, 2020
Elaine MaagRobert McClellandC. Eugene Steuerle
Brief
Individual Taxes

Understanding the Maze of Recent Child and Work Incentive Proposals

Policymakers continue to grapple with the related issues of unequal incomes, relatively poor health, education, and economic outcomes for low-income children, and hardship among low- and...

June 1, 2020
Elaine MaagNikhita Airi
Research report
Individual Taxes

Shifting Child Tax Benefits in the TCJA Left Most Families About the Same

This report analyzes the main provisions of the federal income tax code that provide benefits to families with children, comparing current law with what would be happening had the TCJA not been enacted, and discusses the TCJA’s implications for families of different income levels. On net, almost...

August 16, 2019
Elaine Maag
Brief
Individual Taxes

What are the Largest Nonbusiness Tax Expenditures?

In this brief we consider the largest nonbusiness tax expenditures in the individual income tax. We provide a description of these provisions, estimates of their cost and the distribution of their tax benefits across income groups, and briefly summarize their effects. We consider tax...

July 17, 2019
Frank SammartinoEric Toder
Research report
Individual Taxes

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...

June 10, 2019
Elaine MaagDonald MarronErin Huffer

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