POVERTY, FRESH STARTS, AND THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET
Volume 98, No. 1, Fall 2025
Over the course of the last five decades, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has become ingrained as a critical safety net for low‑income workers with children. For more than twenty‑five years, the Child Tax Credit (CTC) has supplemented this safety net. As a result of Congress enacting these refundable tax credits, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has become an administrator of social benefits.