by Steve Holt, Kali Grant and Funke Aderonmu | Nov 16, 2020 | Data & Workbooks, Report
Refundable tax credits are powerful tools for advancing economic security and opportunity, reducing poverty, and improving the lives of families in need. Despite their successes, these tax credits are limited by a key misalignment: unaffordable living expenses, unstable pay, and persistent hardship are experienced consistently or unpredictably throughout the year, unlike the single annual tax credit disbursement. This report provides a framework for policymakers and advocates seeking to create periodic payment options that align tax credit disbursement timing to need and advance economic, racial, and gender equity. The report also outlines specific periodic payment design recommendations for the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, including flexible disbursement options.
by Vincent Palacios, Laura Tatum and Casey Goldvale | Jul 14, 2020 | Data & Workbooks, Report
For many students, the real cost of college is even higher than commonly understood. Although rising tuition costs limit college affordability, living costs—such as housing, food, and transportation—are equally essential for students striving to afford and complete college. This report examines older students’ particular challenges to college completion, describes how current measurements of costs beyond tuition do not adequately reflect older students’ experiences, and offers new estimates of older students’ spending on housing, which is typically the single greatest cost older students face.
by Elisa Minoff, Indi Dutta-Gupta, Kali Grant and Anita Li | Apr 12, 2018 | Data & Workbooks, Fact Sheet, Report
This is a report on working people and their struggle to make a living when paid the federal minimum wage. The report makes a case for raising wages that is grounded in history, economics, movements across the country, and the lived experience of our nation’s lowest-paid working people, with a particular focus on eliminating the tipped minimum wage and the subminimum wage for working people with disabilities.
