CLINIC COMMENTS
From time to time, the Clinic releases “Comments” that explore issues and evaluate strategies for resolving barriers and conditions the working poor face:
SaveUP
Tax time is a fantastic opportunity to introduce asset building opportunities to low and moderate income individuals and families. After all, many of these tax filers receive up to 40 percent of their annual income in the form of a tax refund. Financially insecure tax filers may forgo savings because there is no immediate reward. Researchers from The University of Chicago and Stanford University developed a matched savings product to introduce to Clinic customers at tax time to investigate what factors impact the decision to save a part of a tax refund. Click here to read about the successes of the SaveUP program.
Assets Scorecard
Not only is the cost of living in New York sky high, it turns out that it is incredibly difficult to build assets in New York than it is in other states. The Corporation for Enterprise Development recently released its Assets and Opportunity Scorecard, which evaluates whether and how each state facilitates asset building opportunities for residents. Click here to read more about how New York compares to the rest of the country.
Periodic Payment of the Earned Income Tax Credit
In recent decades, decision-makers in all levels of government have used the tax code to combat poverty. Overall, this approach has succeeded. The Federal Earned Income Tax (“EITC”), is the nation’s largest and most effective anti-poverty program. The EITC holds the opportunity, if tweaked or adjusted, to bridge the monthly financial gaps households face in making ends meet. Learn how the Clinic is thinking about the credit can be improved to better support the working poor and help them bridge the gap.
Improving Access to the Earned Income Tax Credit
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is this country’s most effective anti- poverty program. Established by the federal government in 1975, the federal EITC has lifted 6.5 million people above the federal poverty level in 2009. Half were children. Learn how the Clinic uncovers audit practices that limit receipt of the credit by hard-working, low-income families and the steps in takes and recommends to restore nearly $40 million in refunds.
Meager Wages Contribute to Financial Insecurity
Nearly two years after the official end of the Great Recession, job growth remains slow and existing wages are stagnant. Millions of working poor people teeter on the brink of poverty, struggling to meet their basic needs—housing, food, medical, transportation, and child care—despite having earned income. Securing or maintaining employment with low-earnings—wages that are high enough to disqualify workers from public assistance, but too low to be considered financially secure–entrenches this forgotten class of workers a constant cycle of financial insecurity. The Clinic explores ways to address wage inequity and barriers to financial mobility.