The Antipoverty Impact of the EITC: New Estimates from Survey and Administrative Tax Records

Maggie R. Jones and James Ziliak

Working Papers from U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies

Abstract: We reassess the antipoverty effects of the EITC using unique data linking the CPS Annual Social and Economic Supplement to IRS data for the same individuals spanning years 2005-2016. We compare EITC benefits from standard simulators to administrative EITC payments and find that significantly more actual EITC payments flow to childless tax units than predicted, and to those whose family income places them above official poverty thresholds. However, actual EITC payments appear to be target efficient at the tax unit level. In 2016, about 3.1 million persons were lifted out of poverty by the EITC, substantially less than prior estimates.

Pages: 58 pages
Date: 2019-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pub
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2019/CES-WP-19-14R.pdf Revised version, 2020 (application/pdf)
https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2019/CES-WP-19-14.pdf First version, 2019 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Antipoverty Impact of the EITC: New Estimates from Survey and Administrative Tax Records (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cen:wpaper:19-14

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