Since January 2020, New America Chicago has collaborated with state agencies, advocates, and community members to expand access to beneficial tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC).
In one collaboration with Inclusive Economy Lab (IEL), the lab identified that approximately 54,147 households enrolled in Medicaid or SNAP do not file taxes, missing out on an estimated $24.9 million in Illinois EITC payments and many more millions in federal CTC and EITC. These households already provide detailed income and family information through IDHS. This raised the question: What if Illinois could save families time and money by using information already shared with state agencies to streamline access to the state EITC?
Fellow researcher Alejandra Ponce De Leon, and I worked together to draft a qualitative research sprint exploring motivations, barriers, and opportunities to improve tax credit access for low-income families in Illinois. We met with 9 families to learn about their experiences with tax credits, and the state agencies, as well as their interest in a hypothetical program that simplified filing and involved a limited interagency datashare.
Fellow researcher Alejandra Ponce De Leon, and I worked together to draft a qualitative research sprint exploring motivations, barriers, and opportunities to improve tax credit access for low-income families in Illinois. We met with 9 families to learn about their experiences with tax credits, and the state agencies, as well as their interest in a hypothetical program that simplified filing and involved a limited interagency datashare.
“I didn't even know you can get an income credit on state taxes… I didn't use to file state taxes because I didn't want the State to take it from me. Had I known, it might have boosted me up to pay off my parking tickets, and I still would have gotten a portion back.”
— Participating mother describing prior tax years where a credit would have helped herWe also held a co-design workshop with East St Louis parents (with the help of Community Organizing and Family Issues) to learn what language and introductions would motivate families like them to claim their tax credits.
After the interviews and workshop, we presented findings and communication mockups to our partners at Illinois Department of Human Services and Illinois Department of Revenue to inspire innovations in future tax credit communications and access.
In parallel, we also helped add qualitative findings and context to New America's report on their natoinal survey on tax filing and tax credit awareness.
In parallel, we also helped add qualitative findings and context to New America's report on their natoinal survey on tax filing and tax credit awareness.
