Winkler Megan R, Clohan Rachel, Komro Kelli A, Livingston Melvin D, Markowitz Sara
Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Department of Economics, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Am J Prev Med. 2025 Jul;69(1):107637. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2025.04.007. Epub 2025 Apr 18.
The Earned Income Tax Credit is a key program to reducing U.S. child poverty. Approximately half of U.S. states have augmented the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, leading to wide variation in state Earned Income Tax Credit access and generosity. Yet, questions remain around the effectiveness of state tax credits in improving basic child needs, such as food security, and whether the policy can equitably narrow longstanding disparities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the state Earned Income Tax Credit on food insecurity among economically at-risk U.S. households with children and explore differential effects across sociodemographic groups.
The authors used an intent-to-treat causal inference design and household-level data from all 50 U.S. states available from the Current Population Survey. The authors estimated the effect of state variation in Earned Income Tax Credit generosity on food insecurity from 2001 to 2022 among a sample of 153,683 households with children and limited parent educational attainment. Analyses were performed in 2024.
Compared with households living in states without a refundable state Earned Income Tax Credit, those living in states with the most generous refundable tax credits experienced significant declines in food insecurity (0.25 percentage point reduction [95% CI= -0.42, -0.09]). In addition, beneficial reductions in food insecurity were observed to be larger for single-headed than for partnered households and for non-Hispanic Black than for non-Hispanic White households.
Findings indicate that state legislatures that elected to implement a more generous refundable state Earned Income Tax Credit have also improved childhood food security among households at high risk for economic hardship.
劳动所得税收抵免是美国减少儿童贫困的一项关键计划。大约一半的美国州增加了联邦劳动所得税收抵免，导致各州在劳动所得税收抵免的获取和慷慨程度上存在很大差异。然而，关于州税收抵免在满足儿童基本需求（如粮食安全）方面的有效性，以及该政策能否公平地缩小长期存在的差距等问题依然存在。本研究的目的是评估州劳动所得税收抵免对美国有子女的经济困难家庭粮食不安全状况的影响，并探讨不同社会人口群体之间的差异影响。
作者采用意向性治疗因果推断设计，并使用了来自当前人口调查的美国所有50个州的家庭层面数据。作者估计了2001年至2022年期间，153,683个有子女且父母教育程度有限的家庭样本中，州劳动所得税收抵免慷慨程度的差异对粮食不安全状况的影响。分析于2024年进行。
与生活在没有可退还州劳动所得税收抵免的州的家庭相比，生活在税收抵免最慷慨的州的家庭粮食不安全状况显著下降（降低了0.25个百分点[95%置信区间=-0.42，-0.09]）。此外，观察到单亲家庭的粮食不安全状况的有益下降幅度大于双亲家庭，非西班牙裔黑人家庭大于非西班牙裔白人家庭。
研究结果表明，选择实施更慷慨的可退还州劳动所得税收抵免的州立法机构，也改善了面临经济困难高风险家庭的儿童粮食安全状况。
