{"title":"Income Inequality, Race, and the EITC","authors":"B. Hardy, Charles M. Hokayem, James P. Ziliak","doi":"10.1086/717959","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"We examine the relationship between the earned income tax credit (EITC) and Black-White after-tax income inequality from 1980 to 2020. The EITC lowers overall inequality by 5–10 percent in a typical year, improving the incomes of Black households relative to White households in the bottom half of the distribution. Gains in relative economic status emerged after the 1993 EITC expansion, concentrated among working-class Black households, and not extending to those at the very bottom. Estimating the effect of the 1993 expansion on labor supply, we find evidence of a much larger extensive-margin employment response for Black households than White households.","PeriodicalId":18983,"journal":{"name":"National Tax Journal","volume":"75 1","pages":"149 - 167"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2022-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"8","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"National Tax Journal","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1086/717959","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 8
Abstract
We examine the relationship between the earned income tax credit (EITC) and Black-White after-tax income inequality from 1980 to 2020. The EITC lowers overall inequality by 5–10 percent in a typical year, improving the incomes of Black households relative to White households in the bottom half of the distribution. Gains in relative economic status emerged after the 1993 EITC expansion, concentrated among working-class Black households, and not extending to those at the very bottom. Estimating the effect of the 1993 expansion on labor supply, we find evidence of a much larger extensive-margin employment response for Black households than White households.
期刊介绍:
The goal of the National Tax Journal (NTJ) is to encourage and disseminate high quality original research on governmental tax and expenditure policies. Articles published in the regular March, June and September issues of the journal, as well as articles accepted for publication in special issues of the journal, are subject to professional peer review and include economic, theoretical, and empirical analyses of tax and expenditure issues with an emphasis on policy implications. The NTJ has been published quarterly since 1948 under the auspices of the National Tax Association (NTA). Most issues include an NTJ Forum, which consists of invited papers by leading scholars that examine in depth a single current tax or expenditure policy issue. The December issue is devoted to publishing papers presented at the NTA’s annual Spring Symposium; the articles in the December issue generally are not subject to peer review.