Responding to the New Geography of Poverty: Metropolitan Trends in the Earned Income Tax Credit

Highlights findings about the growth in low-income and earned income tax credit-filing populations in metropolitan suburbs and the correlated rise in the amount claimed through the EITC between 1999 and 2007. Considers policy implications

Following the Money Federal and Provincial Budget Balances with Canada’s Major Cities

Residents of Canada’s major cities tend to pay far more in taxes than they receive in federal and provincial programs. Why?urban taxation

Share of tax filers claiming EITC increases across states and place types between 2007 and 2010

In this brief, Authors Beth Mattingly and Elizabeth Kneebone use Internal Revenue Service tax filing data to show that the share of tax returns claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) increased between 2007 and 2010, as did the size of the average credit claimed and the number of EITC filers benefitting from the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit (the Additional Child Tax Credit, or ACTC). They report that one in five federal income tax filers claimed the EITC in tax year 2010, which represents a 4 percentage point increase since 2007, when just over one in six filers claimed the credit. Though the share of filers claiming the EITC varies widely across the country, EITC receipt rose across and within every state following the Great Recession. Using its comprehensive supplemental poverty measure, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that these expanded credits kept millions of children and families out of poverty and lowered the poverty rate by 2.8 percentage points overall, and by 6.3 percentage points for children in 2011. Should these expansions be allowed to expire at the end of 2012, eligibility and benefit levels will decline for these families, diminishing the impact of these credits, even as many continue to struggle with the aftereffects of the recession

EITC is vital for working-poor families in rural America

In the 2004 tax year, tax filers claimed almost $40 billion through the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), making the EITC one of the largest federal programs that provides cash supports to low-income working families in the United States. The EITC is especially important to rural families throughout the United States. Among poor and near-poor families, those in rural areas are more likely to be working, and they are more likely to be working in low-wage jobs

Metro Raise: Boosting the Earned Income Tax Credit to Help Metropolitan Workers and Families

Argues for increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit and expanding its options in order to help low-income workers and families meet rising costs and to ensure more inclusive economic growth. Estimates the impact of various proposals on metropolitan areas

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Missed Opportunity: Transit and Jobs in Metropolitan America

Analyzes data on metropolitan areas' transit systems, including access, rush hour service, and percentage of high- and low-skill jobs reached in ninety minutes. Explores implications for investments and land use, economic development, and housing policy

Housing, Homelessness, and Poverty

In 2014, an estimated 137,000 people, or about one in 208 Canadians aged 18 or older, stayed in an emergency homeless shelter. While addictions and mental illness can contribute to homelessness, evidence suggests that the majority of people who resort to using homeless shelters do so because they are poor. Public policies that reduce the cost of housing for those with low income would reduce these numbers and reduce the number of Canadians who annually experience the debilitating effects of homelessness. A high proportion of rent-to-income is a key contributor to homelessness. People who find that rent eats up so much of their income that they can’t afford other necessities will often try their luck doubling up with relatives or friends or temporarily using a city’s shelter system. Anything that influences the rent-to-income ratio – from income support programs, to tax policies affecting the costs of new construction and the costs of maintaining or rehabilitating old buildings, to zoning and density restrictions – will therefore have a significant influence on the rate of homelessness. Recognizing this opens a wide range of policy options and exposes all levels of government to the responsibility for initiating useful policy reforms. Modest efforts to increase housing affordability via rent subsidies and enhanced income support have the advantage over the construction of public housing of maximizing choice and flexibility for those to whom assistance is provided. If the great majority of people experiencing homelessness do so because of poverty, it may be best to address that issue directly with increased levels of income support

When I say … reciprocal illumination

This paper proposes the idea of education as engage-ment rather than transmission, by which I mean an open-minded exchange of perspectives resulting in ‘reciprocal illumination ’ for everyone who takes part. Terminology is important here. Mention the term ‘public engagement ’ and people think of experts pontificating about their pet subject – at science fairs, perhaps, or outreach activities. The assumption is that experts know lots and transmit their knowledge without being changed much, and that members of the public don’t know much at all and stand to gain far more. However, perhaps a different framing might open new opportunities. This takes us back to how we learn. From primary school classroom to university lecture theatre, th

Australia as a Powerbroker on Refugee Protection in Southeast Asia: The Relationship with Indonesia

Using the example of Australian-Indonesian cooperation on deterrence of asylum seekers in transit through Indonesia to Australia, this article challenges the view that Australia is a regional hegemon. It does this through two main methods. First, it engages in a close analysis of the shifting relationship between the two countries on refugee and asylum-seeker issues through different periods since 2001 to 2016. This demonstrates that the relationship is in fact more nuanced than previously suggested by other scholars. Second, it refers to Thomas Pedersen’s political concept of “cooperative hegemony,” which focuses upon “ideationalinstitutional realism” as a lens through which to view regional co-operation. It analyzes the institutional nature of the Australian–Indonesian cooperation relationship in the Southeast Asian context, to demonstrate that Australia has not established itself as a model of “cooperative hegemony.”En prenant l’exemple de la coopération australo-indonésienne pour dissuader les demandeurs d’asile traversant l’Indonésie sur la route de l’Australie, cet article conteste le point de vue d’une hégémonie régionale de l’Australie par un travail en deux temps. Il rapporte tout d’abord une analyse approfondie de la relation ambiguë qu’ont entretenue les deux pays sur la question des réfugiés et des demandeurs d’asile d’une période à l’autre entre 2001 et 2016, et démontre que cette relation est en pratique plus nuancée que celle auparavant décrite par d’autres universitaires. Il fait ensuite référence au concept politique d’« hégémonie coopérative » de Thomas Pedersen, qui met l’accent sur le « réalisme idéationnel-institutionnel » en tant que prisme d’analyse de la coopération régionale, pour examiner la nature institutionnelle de la relation de coopération qu’entretiennent l’Indonésie et l’Australie dans le contexte du Sud-Est asiatique et ainsi démontrer que cette dernière ne s’est pas imposée comme modèle d’« hégémonie coopérative »