This resource from the Urban Institute’s Robert Lerman includes his thoughts on asset promotion policies. New asset policies are driven by the goal that the accumulation and ownership of assets is critical to move low income families into the middle class. Among the benefits of asset building include the psychological benefits from making positive decisions that enhance economic and social well-being.

This is a speech given by Alan Berube of the Brookings Institution to Congressional staff on the benefits of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to urban economies. In this resource, Mr. Berube defines ways that members can maximize the EITC benefit to support low-income families. As well as providing significant benefits to families in cities and suburbs, the EITC has been proven to stimulate local economic activity.

This publication is part of a series on examining strategies for financing supports and services to assist youth in foster care transition into adulthood. This brief reviews financial education and asset building strategies to support youth aging out of foster care, including partner agencies and resources that communities can leverage to support youth.

This analysis was conducted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and discusses the availability of federal tax credits for higher education for low-income students. Currently, low-income students who attend college face high costs of attendance even after taking into account governmental and institutional aid. In 2003-2004, 85 percent of undergraduates from families with incomes below $20,000 had unmet financial need.

The child tax credit is the largest federal cash assistance program for children. In 2007, tax filers can claim a credit equal to 15 percent of the excess of earnings over $11,750, up to the $1,000 per child. Authors find that among working families, more than 30 percent of qualifying children under age 2 are in families with earnings too low to qualify for the full credit.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network sponsored this Roundtable on May 9-10, 2007, in Boise, Idaho. The principal goals of the Roundtable were to build and enhance partnerships statewide between social services providers, Idaho TANF Agency, business leaders, faith-based organizations, etc., with an aim toward helping low wage earning families achieve financial self-sufficiency.

The Earned Income Tax Credit can provide low-income families the necessary support to attain self-sufficiency. This report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation provides key lessons learned from EITC-related tax sites around the country. While EITC initiatives have been successful in supporting working families, sites have experienced challenges in integrating asset building and tax preparation services. Authors give information on how sites around the country and integrating EITC initiatives with asset building strategies.

This study, from the Brookings Institution, utilizes data from the IRS Stakeholder, Partnerships, Education, and Communications (SPEC) division regarding EITC recipients in tax years 2000 and 2004. Researchers found that in 2004, one in six taxpayers received the EITC. The proportion of EITC recipients who filed their returns through volunteer tax sites was under 2 percent, with over 70 percent using paid preparers.

While the Earned Income Tax Credit has traditionally been viewed as an anti-poverty policy, Alan Berube, from the Brookings Institution, offers insight into how the EITC can have significant effects on local and regional economies. In San Antonio, it is estimated that each one dollar in EITC would generate a further 1.58 dollars in local economic activity. Similarly, a recent study in Baltimore found that EITC dollars generate close to 600,000 dollars in local income and property tax revenues.

This article from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities provides an overview of state income tax liability for low-income families. For the 2006 tax year, in 19 of the 42 states that levy income taxes, two-parent families of four with incomes below the federal poverty line are liable for income tax. The Center offers a variety of information on how income is taxed in different states around the country and what this means for low-income families.