
Consensus Study Report
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This activity was supported by contracts between the National Academy of Sciences and the Bainum Family Foundation (#7608); Doris Duke Foundation (#20212490); Foundation for Child Development (#12-2024); Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (#75ACF121C00093); Russell Sage Foundation (#2104-31166); William T. Grant Foundation (#ODF-205451); National Academy of Sciences W. K. Kellogg Foundation Fund; National Academy of Sciences Cecil and Ida Green Fund; National Academy of Sciences Independent Fund; National Academy of Engineering Independent Fund; and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Presidents’ Circle Fund. Support for the work of the Board on Children, Youth, and Families is provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (#79846). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
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Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/29163
Library of Congress Control Number: 2026930455
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2026. Pathways to Reduce Child Poverty: Impacts of Federal Tax Credits. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/29163.
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V. JOSEPH HOTZ (Chair), University of Chicago
DOLORES ACEVEDO-GARCIA, Boston University
MARIANNE BITLER, University of California, Davis
MARIA CANCIAN, Georgetown University
INDIVAR DUTTA-GUPTA, Blue Lotus Strategies
LISA GENNETIAN, Duke University
BRADLEY HARDY, Georgetown University
HARRY HOLZER, Georgetown University
KATHERINE MICHELMORE, University of Michigan
ROBERT MOFFITT, John Hopkins University
ANGELA RACHIDI, American Enterprise Institute
MARJORIE RAYNEE SIMS, Ascend at the Aspen institute
JIM SULLIVAN, University of Notre Dame
CHRISTOPHER WIMER, Columbia University
MARCI YBARRA, University of Wisconsin, Madison
JENNIFER APPLETON GOOTMAN, Study Director
MAYA REDDI, Research Associate
EMMA MOORE, Senior Program Assistant
CHRISTOPHER D. MACKIE, Senior Program Officer
EMILY P. BACKES, Deputy Board Director
JONATHAN TODRES (Chair), Georgia State University College of Law
RICHARD F. CATALANO, JR., University of Washington School of Social Work
TAMMY CHANG, University of Michigan
DIMITRI A. CHRISTAKIS, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, University of Washington
ANDREA GONZALEZ, McMaster University
NANCY E. HILL, Harvard University
CHARLES HOMER, Economic Mobility Pathways
MARGARET KUKLINSKI, University of Washington
MICHAEL C. LU, UC Berkeley School of Public Health
STEPHANIE J. MONROE, Wrenwood Group
STEPHEN RUSSELL, The University of Texas at Austin
NISHA SACHDEV, Premnas Partners, Washington, DC
JANE WALDFOGEL, Columbia University School of Social Work
JOANNA L. WILLIAMS, Rutgers University
NATACHA BLAIN, Senior Board Director
EMILY P. BACKES, Deputy Board Director
KATHARINE G. ABRAHAM (Chair), University of Maryland, College Park
MICK P. COUPER, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan
DIANA FARRELL, JPMorgan Chase institute, Washington, D.C.
ROBERT M. GOERGE, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
ERICA GROSHEN, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University
DANIEL E. HO, Stanford Law School and Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
HILARY HOYNES, Goldman School of Public Policy and Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley
DANIEL KIFER, Department of Computer Science, The Pennsylvania State University
SHARON LOHR, School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Arizona State University, Emeritus
NELA RICHARDSON, ADP Research Institute
C. MATTHEW SNIPP, School of the Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University
ELIZABETH A. STUART, Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
MELISSA CHIU, Director
BRIAN HARRIS-KOJETIN, Senior Scholar
CONSTANCE F. CITRO, Senior Scholar
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This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
ANNA AIZER, Department of Economics, Brown University
CAROLYN BARNES, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, The University of Chicago
KEVIN CORINTH, Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC
JOHN L. CZAJKA, Independent Consultant, Bethesda, MD
JACOB GOLDIN, The University of Chicago Law School
HILARY W. HOYNES, Economics and Public Policy, Goldman School of Public Policy, Berkeley Opportunity Lab, University of California, Berkeley
KATHERINE A. MAGNUSON, Institute for Research on Poverty, School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin
JOSH MCCABE, Social Policy, Niskanen Center, Washington, DC
BRUCE D. MEYER, Harris School of Public Policy and the College, The University of Chicago
TARYN W. MORRISSEY, Department of Public Administration and Policy, School of Public Affairs, American University
ZACH PAROLIN, Department of Social and Political Sciences, Bocconi University (Milan), and Center on Poverty and Social Policy, Columbia University
ARLOC SHERMAN, Data Analysis and Research, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, DC
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by MICHAEL HOUT, Department of Sociology, New York University, and GREG J. DUNCAN, School of Education, University of California, Irvine. They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.
An ad hoc consensus study committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine was convened to assess the impacts of the 2021 federal Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit on the level of poverty for children.
The committee thanks the sponsors of this study for their support: the Bainum Family Foundation; the Doris Duke Foundation; the Foundation for Child Development; the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the National Academy of Sciences W. K. Kellogg Foundation Fund; the National Academy of Sciences Cecil and Ida Green Fund; the National Academy of Sciences Independent Fund; the National Academy of Engineering Independent Fund; the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Presidents’ Circle Fund; the Russell Sage Foundation; and the William T. Grant Foundation.
The bulk of the committee’s information gathering and synthesis was completed by April 2025, and the final edits and revisions to the report were incorporated by August 2025.
This report would not have been possible without the contributions of many people. Special thanks go to the members of the committee, who dedicated extensive time, expertise, knowledge, and energy to the preparing of the report. The committee also thanks the members of the staff of the National Academies for their significant contributions to the report: Jennifer Appleton Gootman, Maya Reddi, Emma Moore, and Emily Backes. Thank you also to National Academies Committee on National Statistics
staff Melissa Chiu, David Johnson, and Christopher Mackie for their support of the project.
The committee is also grateful to Javed Kahn, Faye Hillman, Elise Mialou, Pamella Atayi, and Lisa Alston for their administrative and financial assistance on this project. From the offices of Reports and Communication of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (DBASSE), Kirsten Sampson Snyder and Douglas Sprunger shepherded the report through the review and the production process and assisted with its communication and dissemination. Megan Lowry, of the Office of News and Public Information, and Sandra McDermin and Julie Eubank, of the Office of Congressional and Government Affairs, were instrumental in the release and promotion of the report. The committee also thanks Clair Woolley of the National Academies Press and Bea Porter of DBASSE for their assistance with the production of the final report, and Connie Citro, National Academies staff, for her skillful insights and editing contributions.
We thank the Urban Institute team for providing Transfer Income Model version 3 microsimulation analyses: Laura Wheaton, Linda Gianarelli, and Margot Crandall-Hollick. We also thank Kevin Werner and Sophie Collyer for their significant contributions to data syntheses, review, and analysis.
In addition, the committee received research support from Diana Flores Peregrina, Duke University; Abigail Walters, Boston University; and Armando Vizcardo-Benites, Brandeis University.
Many individuals volunteered significant time and effort to address and educate the committee during our information-gathering sessions. We thank the following experts who participated in public sessions: Jessica Fulton, Pamela Herd, Steve Holt, Maggie Jones, Bruce Meyer, Donald Moynihan, Matthew Notowidigdo, Sharon Parrott, Kyle Pomerleau, Matthew Unrath, Matthew Weidinger, and James Ziliak. We also thank Ascend of the Aspen Institute for organizing and convening listening sessions. We are grateful for the willingness of parents and nonprofit professionals to share their perspectives and personal experiences in these listening sessions.
Throughout the project, Natacha Blain, director of the Board on Children, Youth, and Families, Carlotta Arthur, executive director, and Patti Simon and Amy Stephens, associate executive directors of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, provided valuable oversight and guidance.
V. Joseph Hotz, Chair
Committee on Federal Policy
Impacts on Child Poverty
September 2025
3 Measuring Child Poverty with the Supplemental Poverty Measure
Strengths of the SPM for Addressing the Statement of Task
Data and Measurement Limitations of the SPM
Broader Conceptual Issues with Measuring Poverty and Policies’ Effects on Poverty
4 Take-Up of the EITC and CTC Under ARPA in 2021
EXISTING EVIDENCE ON TAKE-UP OF THE EITC AND CTC
Data Sources Used to Measure Take-Up
Evidence on Take-Up from IRS Data
Evidence on Take-Up from Survey Data
EXPLANATIONS FOR INCOMPLETE TAKE-UP
Data from Linked CPS ASEC and IRS Tax Records
Noncompliance in Receipt of the EITC and CTC
Effects of CTC in 2021 Design Under ARPA and Implementation of Take-Up
5 Experiences of Families and Nonprofit Organizations with the EITC and CTC Policies in 2021
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH AND PRIOR EVIDENCE ON PARTICIPATION IN THE CTC
HOW DID PEOPLE FIND OUT ABOUT THE ARPA CTC IN 2021?
FINDINGS FROM THE LISTENING SESSIONS
Positive Impact of the CTC on Families’ Economic Well-Being
Awareness and Information Channels
Challenges with Filing and Misunderstandings
Regional and Access Disparities
Increased Flexibility in Payment Options
Better Outreach and Communication
SUMMARY OF KEY INSIGHTS AND IMPLICATIONS
OTHER MAJOR POLICIES IN PLACE IN 2021
Unemployment Insurance Expansions
SNAP Emergency Allotments and Benefits Increases
Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit
Medicaid Continuous Enrollment and Affordable Care Act Premium Tax Credits
Emergency Rental Assistance Program
Other Policies and Program Expansions
7 Potential Labor Supply and Employment Effects of Tax Credits
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF LABOR SUPPLY EFFECTS
LABOR SUPPLY EFFECTS OF THE EITC AND CTC
REVIEW OF EITC AND PRE-ARPA CTC LABOR SUPPLY LITERATURE
Employment Effects of the EITC
SUMMARY OF ARPA LABOR SUPPLY LITERATURE
LIMITATIONS OF EXISTING LITERATURE
ELASTICITIES USED TO ACCOUNT FOR AN EMPLOYMENT RESPONSE
8 Impact of the EITC and CTC on Child Poverty in 2021
The EITC and CTC Policies in 2021
Baseline Results for Credit Impacts
Impacts After Adjusting for Employment Effects
Impacts When Other Pandemic Programs Are Excluded
Impacts by Distribution of Estimated Fiscal Outlays
Impacts on Subgroups with Different Family Characteristics
Race and Ethnicity, Nativity, and Citizenship
KEY FEATURES OF ALTERNATIVE POLICY OPTIONS
ESTIMATED IMPACTS OF THE COMMITTEE’S POLICY OPTIONS
Poverty Reduction: Baseline Results
Alternative Poverty Thresholds
Program Fiscal Outlays and the Distribution of Benefits
Improve Data to Identify Key Subgroups in Existing Survey and Administrative Data
Improve Understanding of Tax Credit Impact on Employment and Consequences for Child Poverty
ADDITIONAL STRATEGIES FOR EVALUATING THE IMPACTS OF CHANGES TO THE EITC AND CTC ON CHILD POVERTY
OUTREACH EFFORTS TO IMPROVE RESEARCH ON INFORMATION ABOUT AND ACCESS TO THE TAX SYSTEM
Appendix A Committee and Staff Biosketches
Appendix C Specification of the Official Poverty Measure and the Supplemental Poverty Measure
Appendix D Demographic Portrait of Child Poverty in the United States
Appendix F Synthesizing Elasticity Estimates from the EITC and CTC Literature
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D-5 Number of children in poverty (<100% of threshold) by family composition, 2018 and 2021
D-6 Share of children in poverty (<100% of threshold) by family composition, 2018 and 2021
D-7 Number of children in poverty (<100% of threshold) by employment status of adults, 2018 and 2021
D-8 Share of children in poverty (<100% of threshold) by employment status of adults, 2018 and 2021
D-9 Number of children in poverty (<100% of threshold) by race/ethnicity, 2018 and 2021
D-10 Share of children in poverty (<100% of threshold) by race/ethnicity, 2018 and 2021
H-1 Number of people employed in each month of 2021, TRIM3-CPS data versus BLS data
H-2 Number of people unemployed in each month of 2021, TRIM3CPS data versus BLS data
2-2 EITC and CTC Numbers of Returns and Credit Amounts for Tax Years 2018 and 2021
6-1 Key Characteristics of Major COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Policies and Programs
7-1 Substitution and Income Elasticities Used to Account for Employment Effects
8-1 Estimated 2021 Child Poverty Rate Under the EITC and CTC by Family Structure Characteristics
8-2 Estimated 2021 Child Poverty Rate Under the EITC and CTC by Family Socioeconomic Status
8-3 Estimated 2021 Child Poverty Rate Under the EITC and CTC by Residential Location
8-5 Estimated 2021 Child Poverty Under Alternative Specifications—Summary
9-1 Parameters for Child Tax Credit (CTC) Components of Policy Options (POs)
9-4 Estimated Child Poverty for Committee’s Policy Options, Including Employment Effects
9-8 Estimated Child Poverty Rates for Committee’s Policy Options (POs) by Subgroups
C-1 Official Poverty Measure (OPM) Specifications
C-2 Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) Specifications
D-2 Child Poverty Rates and Child Poverty Rate Gaps by Subgroup (SPM<100%), 2018 and 2021
E-1 Rates of Adults in CPS ASEC Households with Protected Identification Keys (PIKs)
E-2 Tax Filing Status Based on CPS ASEC Tax Model and IRS 1040s and Match Rates Between Them
F-1 EITC and Pre-ARPA CTC Studies Included to Determine Elasticities
G-2 Estimated 2021 Child Poverty Rate Under the EITC and CTC by Family Socioeconomic Status
G-3 Estimated 2021 Child Poverty Rate Under the EITC and CTC by Residential Location
G-5 Estimated Receipt of the EITC and CTC by Pre–Tax Credit Poverty Status, 2021
G-6 Effects of 2021 EITC and CTC on Child Poverty, Committee and Census Estimates
G-7 Estimated Effects of the 2021 EITC and CTC on Child Poverty with Employment Effects Incorporated
G-9 Estimated Effects of the 2021 EITC and CTC on Deep and Near Child Poverty
H-1 Key Results of Immigrant Status Imputation Procedures, CY 2021 CPS-TRIM3 Data
H-2 TRIM3-Simulated Benefits Compared with Administrative Totals, 2021
H-3 TRIM3-Simulated Payroll Taxes Compared with Administrative Targets, 2021
H-4 TRIM3-Simulated Federal and State Income Taxes Compared with Administrative Targets, 2021
H-5 TRIM3-Simulated CDCTC, EITC, and CTC Compared with Administrative Totals, 2021
H-8 TRIM3-Simulated Economic Impact Payments Compared with Administrative Totals, 2021
H-9 TRIM3 Benefits and Expenses Incorporated into the 2021 SPM
H-10 Effect of TRIM3 Adjustments on SPM Child Poverty and Deep Poverty Estimates, 2021
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| ACA | Affordable Care Act |
| ACTC | Additional Child Tax Credit |
| AFDC | Aid to Families with Dependent Children |
| AGI | Adjusted Gross Income |
| ARPA | American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 |
| BLS | Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| CCDF | Child Care and Development Fund |
| CDCTC | Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit |
| CE | Consumer Expenditure Survey |
| COVID-19 | Coronavirus Disease of 2019 |
| CPS | Current Population Survey |
| CPS ASEC | Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement |
| CTC | Child Tax Credit |
| EA | Emergency Assistance |
| EBT | Electronic Benefit Transfer |
| EE | employment effects |
| EIP | Economic Impact Payment |
| EITC | Earned Income Tax Credit |
| ERAP | Emergency Rental Assistance Program |
| FCSU | food, clothing, shelter, utilities |
| FPUC | Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation |
| FY | fiscal year |
| HI | Hospital Insurance |
| HoH | head of household |
| IRS | Internal Revenue Service |
| ITTN | Individual Taxpayer Identification Number |
| LIHEAP | Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program |
| MFJ | married filed jointly |
| MOOP | medical out-of-pocket expenses |
| NEWS | National Experimental Well-Being Statistics |
| NIT | Negative Income Tax |
| OPM | Official Poverty Measure |
| P-EBT | Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer |
| PEUC | Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation |
| PO | policy option |
| PRWORA | Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 |
| PUA | Pandemic Unemployment Assistance |
| RD | Regression Discontinuity |
| RTW | Return to Work |
| SIPP | Survey of Income and Program Participation |
| SNAP | Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program |
| SPM | Supplemental Poverty Measure |
| SSF | Solely State Funded |
| SSI | Supplemental Security income |
| SSN | Social Security Number |
| TANF | Temporary Assistance for Needy Families |
| TCJA | Tax Cuts and Jobs Act |
| TFS | Tax-Filing Status |
| TFU | Tax-Filing Unit |
| TRA | Tax Reduction Act 1975 |
| TRIM3 | Transfer Income Model version 3 |
| UC | Unemployment Compensation |
| UI | Unemployment Insurance |
| USDA | U.S. Department of Agriculture |
| WIC | Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children |
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