Authors
Kevin Corinth, Angela Rachidi, Matt Weidinger, Scott Winship
Publication date
2024/1/19
Publisher
Working Paper. American Enterprise Institute. January. https://www. aei. org/research-products/working-paper/the-work-incentive-and-employment-effects-ofeliminating-the-child-tax-credits-annual-incomerequirement
Description
Senior House and Senate tax committee leaders agreed to a framework for modifying the Child Tax Credit on January 16, 2024. The most consequential reform would eliminate the Child Tax Credit’s annual income requirement by allowing individuals to calculate their eligibility using their current or prior year’s income, whichever year maximizes the family’s benefit. We show that for the vast majority of families who work regularly, this reform would—every other year—eliminate the Child Tax Credit’s work incentive and lead over 700,000 parents to stop working. For the minority of families who do not work in any given two-year period, the Child Tax Credit’s work incentive would be doubled every other year and lead 395,000 parents to start working. We also discuss how the reform would affect the incentive to work more or fewer hours. We conclude that this reform would have important impacts on the labor market that require further study before being considered for passage by Congress.
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