Featured Report
A new report, “State Tax Codes As Poverty Fighting Tools: 2011 Update on Four Key Policies in All 50 States,” reviews four key policy tools state policymakers can easily implement to help families rise out of poverty: EITCs, property tax circuit breakers, targeted low-income credits, and child-related tax credits.
Recent Updates
Weekly News Round-Up: September 23, 2011
Highlights from this week’s news on family tax credits, including an American Enterprise Institute article examining both the advantages and drawbacks of means-testing EITC and CTC benefits, responses to new state-specific Census figures released yesterday that call for using the EITC to fight rising poverty in many cities and states, and commentary from the Tax Policy Center showing the benefits and limitations of family tax credits in helping working families make ends meet.
Census data finds EITC reduced poverty rate in 2010
New Census data released yesterday reveals that roughly 46.2 million, or 15.1 percent of Americans, are now considered to be living below the poverty line, the highest number since the U.S. Census Bureau began calculating it in 1959. While official poverty statistics don’t take into account the impact that much-need assistance from working family tax credits had in preventing poverty, the bureau did determine that 5.2 million Americans, including 3 million children, would not be in poverty if it included federal EITC benefits in its income measurements.