Earned Income Tax Credit Benefits Research Articles

The earned income tax credit (EITC) and time spent helping and caring for adults

AbstractThis is the first study to examine the effect of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on unpaid caregiving for adults, which could operate through the credit’s effects on labor supply and household income. Using a sample of unmarried mothers and data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), I employ a simulated benefit approach to generate causal estimates of the effect of EITC generosity on time use. I find that increases in average EITC benefits have differential effects on assisting adults by both the age of the EITC recipient and the relationship between the EITC recipient and the care recipient. No effect is estimated for the youngest group of unmarried mothers (ages 25–34), who increase employment without reducing time spent assisting adults. In contrast, the oldest group of unmarried mothers (ages 45–54) responds by increasing their propensity to assist their parents while maintaining their labor supply. Unmarried mothers aged 35–44 both increase their labor supply and spend more time assisting adult family members on the intensive margin, even as they are less likely to assist parents on the extensive margin, especially with chore help. Results for other types of time use (home production, leisure, childcare, education, sleep), as well as probability of multigenerational co-residence, help explain these shifts. For example, for the oldest group of unmarried mothers, increased co-residence with parents is estimated to occur and may facilitate this labor-caregiving balance. These results add to a growing body of evidence that the EITC affects recipients’ time allocation beyond paid work and that the effects of the EITC span across generations and households.

Refundable Credits by Race/Hispanic Ethnicity, Income, and Filing Status

Using the US Department of the Treasury's tax model with an updated race and Hispanic ethnicity (RH) imputation, we find that Hispanic and Black families are not more likely than White families to benefit from the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or Child Tax Credit (CTC) within strata defined by income, RH, filing status, and the presence of children. Average EITC and CTC benefits are still generally higher for Hispanic families, but average CTC benefits are generally lower for Asian and Hispanic families who are married with children.

Potential gaps in income support policies for those in poor health: The case of the earned income tax credit—A cross sectional analysis

BackgroundThe federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is the primary income support program for low-income workers in the U.S., but its design may hinder its effectiveness when poor health limits, but does not preclude, work. MethodsCross-sectional analysis of nationally-representative U.S. Census Current Population Survey (CPS) data covering 2019. Working-age adults eligible to receive federal EITC were included in this study. Poor health, as indicated by self-report of at least one problem with hearing, vision, cognitive function, mobility, dressing and bathing, or independence, was the exposure. The main outcome was federal EITC benefit category, categorized as no benefit, phase-in (income too low for the maximum benefit), plateau (maximum benefit), phase-out (income above threshold for maximum benefit), or earnings too high to receive any benefit. We estimated EITC benefit category probabilities by health status using multinomial logistic regression. We further examined whether other government benefits provided additional income support to those in poor health. Results41,659 participants (representing 87.1 million individuals) were included. 2,724 participants (representing 5.6 million individuals) reported poor health. In analyses standardized over age, gender, race, and ethnicity, those in poor health, compared with those not in poor health, were more likely to be in the no benefit (2.40% vs. 0.30%, risk difference 2.10 percentage points [95%CI 1.75 to 2.46 percentage points]), and phase-in (9.28% vs. 2.74%, risk difference 6.54 percentage points [95%CI 5.82 to 7.26 percentage points]) categories. Differences in resources by health status persisted even after accounting for other government benefits. ConclusionsEITC program design creates an important gap in income support for those for whom poor health limits work, which is not closed by other programs. Filling this gap is an important public health goal.

The earned income tax credit and food insecurity

AbstractAlthough previous work on the earned income tax credit (EITC) has established that the program improves health outcomes of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, not much is known about the possible pathways through which higher EITC benefits affect health. This study contributes to the literature by evaluating the role of food insecurity as a mechanism underlying the relationship between the EITC and health. Using the 2009 federal EITC expansion, which increased benefit generosity for eligible families with three or more children, I estimate difference‐in‐differences (DD) and difference‐in‐difference‐in‐differences (DDD) models to evaluate whether the policy change is associated with improvements in food security. My analysis finds that the program expansion, which increased predicted annual EITC benefits by $496, is associated with a reduction in the likelihood of experiencing food insecurity by 8.1% for low‐educated households with three children. The observed improvements in food security are larger for non‐married households, a group that has previously been shown to be strongly affected by EITC changes. An evaluation of variations in state‐level EITC laws provides further indication that more generous benefits reduce food insecurity. The results, which are robust to estimating several alternative specifications, provide evidence that higher EITC benefits improve the well‐being of low‐income households by reducing food insecurity.

Cumulative Payments Through the Earned Income Tax Credit Program in Childhood and Criminal Conviction During Adolescence in the US

Childhood poverty is associated with poor health and behavioral outcomes. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), first implemented in 1975, is the largest cash transfer program for working families with low income in the US. To assess whether cumulative EITC payments received during childhood are associated with the risk of criminal conviction during adolescence. In this cohort study, the analytic sample consisted of US children enrolled in the 1979 National Longitudinal Study of Youth. The children were born between 1979 and 1998 and were interviewed as adolescents (age 15-19 years) between 1994 and 2016. Data analyses were performed from May 2021 to September 2022. Cumulative simulated EITC received by the individual's family from birth through age 14 years. The main outcome was dichotomous, self-reported conviction for a crime during adolescence (age 14-18 years). A cumulative, simulated measure of mean EITC benefits received by a child's family from birth through age 14 years was derived from federal, state, and family-size differences in EITC eligibility and payments during the study period to capture EITC benefit variation due to differences in policy parameters but not endogenous factors such as changes in household income. Logistic regression models with fixed effects for state and year and robust SEs clustered by mother estimated relative risk of adolescent conviction. Models were adjusted for state-, mother-, and child-level covariates. The analytical sample consisted of 5492 adolescents born between 1979 and 1998; 2762 (50.3%) were male, 1648 (30.0%) were Black, 1125 (20.5%) were Hispanic, and 2719 (49.5%) were not Black or Hispanic. Each additional $1000 of EITC received during childhood was associated with an 11% lower risk of self-reported criminal conviction during adolescence (adjusted odds ratio, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.84-0.95). Adjusted risk differences were larger among boys (-14.2 self-reported convictions per 1000 population [95% CI, -22.0 to -6.3 per 1000 population]) than among girls (-6.2 per 1000 population [95% CI, -10.7 to -1.6 per 1000 population]). The findings suggest that income support from the EITC may be associated with reduced youth involvement with the criminal justice system in the US. Cost-benefit analyses of the EITC should consider these longer-term and indirect outcomes.

EITC as Income (In)Stability?

Congress enacted the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), inter alia, to entice poor single mothers to work (or work more) as a means of lifting themselves out of poverty. Its design as a wage subsidy that phases out at higher earnings levels is intended to accomplish this goal. A strong labor market is crucial to the success of work-based benefit programs, such as the EITC. The EITC can motivate female household heads to work (or work more), but they cannot act on that motivation if no jobs or additional working hours exist. This Article demonstrates that during economic downturns, the EITC wage subsidy contributes to, rather than prevents, poverty in single-mother families. Lost EITC benefits exacerbate recession-induced earnings losses, a phenomenon this Article refers to as income destabilization. In contrast, the EITC stabilizes the incomes of its wealthier beneficiaries as increased credit amounts offset underlying salary declines. While this pattern of income (de)stabilization is an unintended byproduct of the design of the EITC as a targeted wage subsidy, its negative impact on the economic welfare of female-headed households is problematic, given that these same families are the historically targeted program beneficiaries. This Articleoffers a narrowly tailored proposal that alters the structure of the EITC during recessionary periods in order to prevent EITC-induced income destabilization.

The long-term effect of the Earned Income Tax Credit on women's physical and mental health.

Using a novel method, and data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), we estimate the cumulative, long-term, causal effect of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) eligibility on women's physical and mental health at age 50. We find that an increase in lifetime eligible EITC benefits is associated with long-term improvements in physical health, such as reduced occurrence of activity-limiting health problems and reduced reported diagnoses of mild and severe diseases. We explore intermediate health behaviors and outcomes, and find that an increase in lifetime eligible EITC benefits increases the number of hours worked and access to employer-sponsored health insurance, and decreases body mass index in the short-term. We find no significant effects of the EITC on mental health at age 50. Finally, we find that White women benefit disproportionately from the EITC in terms of mobility-related health issues, while Black and Hispanic women benefit in terms of lung-related illnesses like asthma, as well as cancer and stroke.

The Earned Income Tax Credit as supplementary food benefits and savings for durable goods

AbstractThe Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) transferred more than $67 billion to taxpayers in 2016. We estimate changes in spending that occur following EITC disbursement. We make three key advances in identifying the effect: using estimated EITC dollar benefits to differentiate the impact of low from high benefits; estimating the impact by liquid assets; and, employing a triple‐difference model around the 1993 expansion and a separate triple‐difference model over the number of children. We find that the EITC acts as supplementary SNAP benefits for those with small EITC benefits, while those with larger benefits increase spending on durables, particularly automobiles.

Racial Differences in the Association between the U.S. Earned Income Tax Credit and Birthweight.

We examined whether the largest U.S. poverty alleviation program for families, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), has different associations with birthweight among women of different racial backgrounds. We analyzed data from the 1985-2015 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a longitudinal cohort study of U.S. families (N=5,230 infants born to 3,672 women). The primary outcome was a continuous measure of birthweight, with secondary outcomes including low birthweight (LBW) and very LBW. Using rich sociodemographic data available in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we calculated the amount of EITC benefit for which women were eligible. We then examined the association of EITC benefit size with each outcome using multivariable regressions, examining the sample overall as well as racial subgroups (White, Black, or other). We found that larger EITC benefits were not associated with increased infant birthweight for the overall sample (18.37g per $1,000 of EITC; 95% confidence interval [CI], -2.62 to 33.36). There was an increase in birthweight for Black women (40.17g; 95% CI: 7.32 to 73.02), but not for White women (-1.86g; 95% CI, -33.33 to 29.60) or women of other races (-13.26g; 95% CI, -75.90 to 49.38). There was no association between EITC benefit size and the probability of LBW or very LBW. Results were robust to alternative model specifications. Social policies to address poverty may be effective at decreasing racial disparities in birthweight. Future work should examine potential mechanisms and the benefits of improved health outcomes for children later in life.

The Effects of EITC Correspondence Audits on Low-Income Earners

Each year, the United States Internal Revenue Service identifies taxpayers who may have erroneously claimed Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) benefits and audits them through a mail correspondence process to verify their claims. This paper exploits the random variation arising from certain aspects of the audit selection process to estimate the impacts of these EITC correspondence audits on taxpayer behaviors. In the years after being audited, taxpayers are less likely to claim EITC benefits, and most of the reduction appears to be in EITC claims that may have been flagged for potential EITC noncompliance. Additionally, qualifying children on audited returns are more likely to be claimed by other taxpayers after the audits. These spillovers indicate that net overpayments may be less than gross overpayments, since ineligible qualifying children on audited returns could potentially be eligible qualifying children on other taxpayers’ returns. Lastly, EITC correspondence audits affect real economic activity, as wage earners experience changes in the likelihood of having wage employment in the years after being audited.

The impact of state earned income tax credit increases on material and medical hardship

AbstractThe federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) provides substantial financial assistance to low‐ and moderate‐income workers and has been shown to reduce poverty and encourage employment. Many US states have also implemented their own EITCs to supplement the federal tax credits. Leveraging unique administrative and survey data and employing a difference‐in‐differences approach, this study investigates how changes in state EITC benefits between 2012 and 2016 impacted the levels of material and medical hardships in states that expanded or enacted state credits. We find that small changes in state EITC levels can alleviate medical hardship, but not most other types of hardship, especially when states experience a greater benefit increase or implement new state EITCs. Our research points to the limitations of using relatively modest tax credits to offset many of the economic challenges faced by low‐ and moderate‐income households.

The Earned Income Tax Credit and Intimate Partner Violence.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health problem in the United States with adverse consequences for affected individuals and families. Recent reviews of the literature suggest that economic policies should be further investigated as part of comprehensive strategies to address IPV. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is the nation's largest anti-poverty program for working parents, and especially benefits low-income women with children, who experience an elevated risk of IPV. The EITC may prevent IPV by offering financial resources; such resources may help individuals experiencing IPV leave abusive relationships or address IPV risk factors, thereby preventing entry into abusive relationships. However, the association between EITC generosity and IPV has not been previously examined. We used state-level and individual-level datasets to examine the association between EITC generosity and IPV. Our state-level data source was the nationally representative National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS; N = ~ 95,000 households per year). For NCVS, we used a difference-in-difference approach to investigate the relationship between state EITC generosity and IPV rates. We also used individual-level longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (n = 13,422 person-waves). Using this cohort of US families at higher risk for IPV, we evaluated associations between estimated EITC benefits based on the mother's state of residence and number of children and self-reported IPV. In both state- and individual-level analyses, no significant association between state EITC benefits and IPV was found. Factors that may account for these null findings include program ineligibility for individuals who separate from abusive spouses. Future research efforts should more closely examine EITC policy implementation processes and the lived experience of participating in anti-poverty programs for people experiencing IPV.

Association of State-Level Earned Income Tax Credits With Rates of Reported Child Maltreatment, 2004-2017.

Poverty is an important predictor of child maltreatment. Social policies that strengthen the economic security of low-income families, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), may reduce child maltreatment by impeding the pathways through which poverty leads to it. We used variations in the presence and generosity of supplementary EITCs offered at the state level and administrative child maltreatment data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) to examine the effect of EITC policies on state-level rates of child maltreatment from 2004 through 2017. Two-way fixed effects models indicated that a 10-percentage point increase in the generosity of refundable state EITC benefits was associated with 241 fewer reports of neglect per 100,000 children (95% Confidence Interval [CI] [-449, -33]). An increase in EITC generosity was associated with fewer reports of neglect both among children ages 0-5 (-324 per 100,000; 95% CI [-582, -65]) and children ages 6-17 (-201 per 100,000; 95% CI [-387, -15]). Findings also suggested associations between the EITC and reductions in other types of maltreatment (physical abuse, emotional abuse); however, those did not gain statistical significance. Economic support policies may reduce the risk of child maltreatment, especially neglect, and improve child wellbeing.

Effect of the 1996 Welfare Reform on Undocumented Immigrants

This paper examines the labor market effects of ending the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for undocumented immigrants in the United States. The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 required that tax filers have a valid Social Security number to claim the EITC, thus disqualifying undocumented immigrants from receiving the EITC benefits. Comparing EITC per person in counties with different percentages of undocumented immigrants before and after 1996 reveals that counties with relatively higher percentages of undocumented immigrants lost approximately 154 USD per person of the EITC. Utilizing a difference-in-differences design that compares undocumented immigrants with and without children, uncovers that ending the EITC sharply reduced the labor supply of single-mothers undocumented immigrants by five percentage points even though it did not affect the labor force participation and earnings of undocumented immigrants in general. The results reflect the extremely inelastic labor supply of undocumented immigrants as a whole, but a high elasticity (0.88) for single-mother undocumented immigrants.

Anti-poverty policy and health: Attributes and diffusion of state earned income tax credits across U.S. states from 1980 to 2020.

The U.S. federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is often considered the most effective antipoverty program for families in the U.S., leading to a variety of improved outcomes such as educational attainment, work incentives, economic activity, income, and health benefits for mothers, infants and children. State EITC supplements to the federal credit can significantly enhance the magnitude of this intervention. In this paper we advance EITC and health research by: 1) describing the diffusion of state EITC policies over 40 years, 2) presenting patterns in important EITC policy dimensions across space and time, and 3) disseminating a robust data set to advance future research by policy analysts and scientists. We used current public health law research methods to systematically collect, conduct textual legal analysis, and numerically code all EITC legislative changes from 1980 through 2020 in the 50 states and Washington, D.C. First, the pattern of diffusion across states and time shows initial introductions during the 1990s in the Midwest, then spreading to the Northeast, with more recent expansions in the West and South. Second, differences by state and time of important policy dimensions are evident, including size of credit and refundability. Third, state EITC benefits vary considerably by household structure. Continued research on health outcomes is warranted to capture the full range of potential beneficial effects of EITCs on family and child wellbeing. Lawyers and policy analysts can collaborate with epidemiologists and economists on other high-quality empirical studies to assess the many dimensions of policy and law that potentially affect the social determinants of health.

Identifying the causal effect of income on religiosity using the Earned Income Tax Credit

How do economic conditions – income and the generosity of social insurance–affect religious behavior? This paper provides novel evidence for the United States using variation in Earned Income Tax Credit benefits across states, over time, and by number of children. In the raw data, income and religiosity have a trivial relationship. In contrast, the instrumental variables strategy shows that increases in income from the EITC are found to sizably reduce religious attendance among low-income individuals. Among individuals who attend, the results indicate that an additional $1000 in annual income is associated with a decrease of roughly 1 service per year (as compared to an average of 16 services per year). The effect arises mainly along the intensive margin, decreasing devout behavior and increasing more marginal attendance, but having little impact on whether an individual participates at all or on beliefs. There are also minimal effects on the occurrence and amount of contributions to religious organizations. The results extend our understanding of the determinants of religiosity, the relationship between governmental income support and religious behavior, and the social effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Long-Run Effects of Incentivizing Work after Childbirth

This paper uses a panel of SSA earnings linked to the CPS to estimate the impact of increasing post-childbirth work incentives on mothers' long-run career trajectories. We implement a novel research design that exploits variation in the timing of the 1993 reform of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) around a woman's first birth and in eligibility for the credit. We find that single mothers exposed to the expansion immediately after a first birth (early-exposed) have 3 to 4 p.p. higher employment in the 5 years after a first birth than single mothers exposed 3 to 6 years after a first birth (late-exposed). Ten to nineteen years after a first birth, early-exposed mothers have the same employment and hours as late-exposed mothers, but have accrued 0.5 to 0.6 more years of work experience and have 6 percent higher earnings. Incorporating long-run effects on EITC benefits and earnings increases the implied marginal value of public funds (MVPF) of the expansion. Our results suggest that there are steep returns to work incentives at childbirth that accumulate over the life-cycle. Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.

Long-Term Health Effect of Earned Income Tax Credit

Using decades of variation in the federal and state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) dataset, I examine the impact of exposure to EITC expansions in utero and during childhood on health outcomes in adulthood. In order to overcome the confounding relationship between family income and health outcomes, this study uses the maximum EITC benefit as the key variable. Reduced-form estimates show that EITC expansions had a positive impact on self-reported health status and other health measurements. Specifically, a $1000 increase in the maximum EITC exposure from ages 13 to 18 corresponds with a 0.125 point increase in the reported health status during adulthood. In addition, being exposed to EITC expansions in utero increases reported health status by 0.043 point. Relative to the range of reported health of 1 to 5 and the standard deviation of 0.97, these are very small effects. Nonetheless, these health effects are consequential, associating with increases in both family income and maternal labor supply. Labor supply induced time substitution effect competes with the income enhancement, with different relative impacts at different age intervals, creating a “U-shaped overall health consequence.

Tax benefits to families with children

The article deals with theoretical and empirical research of the influence of social tax benefits (allowances) on welfare of families with children in Ukraine and worldwide. International comparisons of basic features and requirements that serve to qualify recipients of the social tax allowance such as income threshold; family size and composition (including relationships, number and age of children); amount of tax deduction (social tax allowance); a tax wedge on labour; untaxed income are carried out. Basic advantages of tax benefits in comparison with direct state aid are generalized in terms of welfare improvement for families with children. Tax benefits are argued to work better as incentives for parents to increase their labour efforts. In addition, they also decrease pressure on working population, lower demand for government expenditures and eliminate problem of "budget freeriders". Earned income tax credit (EITC) in the USA has been analyzed regarding whether it is effective in targeting social and fiscal issues in this country. The study concluded that EITC assists a wide scope of low-income families with children and thus establishes high income tax progressivity in different brackets in the USA. The special attention was paid to the provisions of EITC and other in-work tax benefits under the system of married couple (joint) tax filing whose introduction is being currently debated in Ukraine with the aim to promote more socially-oriented tax system. The efficiency of tax benefits for families with children in Ukraine has been challenged within the analysis of legislative provisions of social tax allowance (STA) and estimation of STA influence on the welfare of low-income (poor) families with children. We have found evidence that STA in Ukraine is characterized with restrictions that make a large group of families with children ineligible and thus a conclusion was made that STA discriminates against those who are really in need. Furthermore, insufficient amount of deduction within STA seems inadequate in order to reduce poverty or increase income tax progressivity. Consequently, some recommendations in order to improve STA in Ukraine are suggested.

The EITC and self-employment among married mothers

This paper analyzes the impact of the earned income tax credit (EITC) on low-income, non-college educated married mothers’ self-employment behavior. We use a parameterized difference-in-differences approach that captures policy changes at the federal and state level over the last two decades to analyze how the increasing generosity of the EITC has affected married women's self-employment. Results suggest that the average increase in state EITC benefits during that time period increased self-employment behavior of low-income, non-college educated married mothers by 0.9 percentage points. Our measure of self-employment reflects hours spent in self-employment, which we interpret as a real increase in self-employment effort rather than a change in reporting. The findings provide evidence that the EITC can influence workers’ type of employment in addition to their overall labor supply.