Benefits Program: EITC: Earned Income Tax Credit
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code 
Benefits Cliffs Coaching with the Atlanta Fed’s CLIFF Tools: Implementation Evaluation of the National Pilot
The Atlanta Fed’s CLIFF tools provide greater transparency to workers about potential public assistance losses when their earnings increase. We find three broad themes in organization-level implementation of the CLIFF tools: identifying the tar- get population of users; integrating the tool into existing operations; and integrating the tool into coaching sessions.
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Policy 
Building a Stronger Foundation for American Families: Options for Child Tax Credit Reform
Our existing maze of family tax benefits — including the CTC, Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), and head of household (HoH) filing status — has several structural deficiencies that make overhauling the system a prerequisite for any effort to boost support for families with children. The report offers several options for expanding and streamlining family tax benefits to address these issues.
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Policy 
Fewer Burdens but Greater Inequality? Reevaluating the Safety Net through the Lens of Administrative Burden
This paper examines changes in administrative burden in U.S. social safety net programs, or the negative encounters with the state that people experience when trying to access and use the benefits for which they are eligible. While overall burdens have declined in most targeted programs, there is evidence of increasing inequality regarding who faces these burdens.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code 
Helping People with Low Incomes Navigate Benefit Cliffs: Lessons Learned Deploying a Marginal Tax Rate Calculator
This report details findings and lessons from a project to develop a calculator to help people anticipate how a change in earnings from employment would affect their net income and information on their estimated effective marginal tax rate.
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Policy 
Modernizing Public Benefits Delivery: How Innovation Can Deliver Results for Eligible Households and Taxpayers
A modernized public benefits system would better serve program participants, administrators, policy makers, and taxpayers. This paper proposes a set of principles both define the desired future state and outline the values that shape decision making along the way. Practices describe the processes needed to achieve modernization.
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Strategies for Improving Public Benefits Access and Retention
This report presents a menu of strategies that have the potential to increase access to individual public benefit programs or a package of benefits. It focuses on Illinois, but the strategies identified are relevant throughout the country.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code 
Project Snapshot: ACCESS NYC & Benefits Screening API
The NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity (NYC Opportunity) developed the NYC Benefits Platform, including ACCESS NYC, to help residents easily discover and check eligibility for over 80 social programs. This mobile-first, open-source tool uses a simple eligibility screener, reducing access barriers while allowing integration with other city services like MyCity, ensuring efficient access to benefits.
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Policy 
Basic Income and Local Government: A Guide to Municipal Pilots
This guide consolidates learning and spotlights principles, insights, and emerging practices to guide municipal leaders and public-private partnerships interested in designing basic income programs that are ethical, equitable, rigorous, informative, and consequential for local, state and national policymaking.
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Communications 
Texting Playbook: Recommendations and Tips for Texting Clients of Safety Net Services
The Texting Playbook provides guidance and well-researched strategies to help state agencies implement texting in support of Medicaid, SNAP, WIC, and other benefits programs. It provides an overview of how to start texting clients; the types of messages to send, including real examples; Federal Communications Commision (FCC) policy guidance; how to encourage opt-ins and collect consent; how to avoid coming across as spam; and a cost analysis of texting.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code 
Project Snapshot: PolicyEngine
PolicyEngine is a nonprofit that provides a free, open-source web app enabling users in the US and UK to estimate taxes and benefits at the household level, while also simulating the effects of policy changes. By combining tax and benefits data, PolicyEngine helps individuals and policymakers better understand the impacts of existing policies and proposed reforms, using microsimulation models built from legislation and enhanced survey data.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code 
Policy Rules Database Github
Github repository for Policy Rules Database, which encodes up-to-date rules and provisions for all major federal and state public assistance programs, taxes, and tax credits.
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Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code 
Benefits Launch Express
Created by Benefits Data Trust, Benefits Launch Express is a high-level eligibility screening and assistance finder available to Philadelphia residents. The tool screens eligibility for 29 programs and is estimated to take up to 10 minutes to complete.