A Reference Manual for Child Tax Benefits

The individual income tax contains multiple provisions that favor families with children. They range from credits targeted towards low-income families to deductions that favor higher income families. Some provisions benefit a family by virtue of the family having children, others try to incentivize behavior such as work and going to school. This paper by Elaine Maag, Stephanie Rennane, and Eugene Steuerle describes the various child-related provisions and shows the distribution of who benefits from the provisions. Benefits can be substantial. For example, a single parent with two children could receive a tax subsidy worth almost $9,000. The rules governing the provisions are complex and ripe for reform.

View link to this paper or view the entire paper as a PDF.

The Budget Battle

Two competing plans to deal with the nation's fiscal problems have recently been introduced: the House Budget Resolution and President Obama's proposal. In new Urban Institute videos, TPC director Donald Marron and TPC associate Rudy Penner discuss the budget resolution and TPC's Gene Steuerle and Roberton Williams talk about the president's plan.