Taxing the Poor: Income Averaging Reconsidered

Abstract

This Article presents an original empirical analysis demonstrating that low-income families experience far greater income fluctuations than higher-income families and, as a result, taxation of annual income disproportionately burdens low-income families. The author proposes two simple income averaging devices to redress this effect: averaging the Earned Income Tax Credit over a two-year period and carrying back the standard deduction and personal and dependent exemptions.