The Factors of Political Sustainability for IRS-Administered Anti-Poverty Programs

After the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) delivered more than $1.5 trillion in economic relief to low-income families during the pandemic, Capital Hill widened its policy window for more government assistance to go through the tax system. This memorandum identifies five factors policy advocates should consider as they work to expand new or existing anti-poverty programs (APPs) through the IRS. Each of these factors are responsible for the political sustainability of IRS-administered APPs like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC).2 If advocates deviate from these factors in the policymaking process, they risk exposing the IRS to the divisiveness of welfare politics that retrenched other cash assistance programs from the 1990s onward.