Overview

2025 marks the expiration of many of the individual and family tax provisions of the 2017 large-scale tax package, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). The country is now engaged in a national debate on the future of tax policy. This tax debate offers an opportunity to consider how to design tax policy that better supports young adults. Young adults have been historically left out of important tax policies supporting workers earning lower wages – particularly the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) – despite facing similar financial challenges in meeting their basic needs and building savings as other low-wage workers, especially at a time of rising costs of living. A more permanent expansion of the childless EITC offers one way to support young adults’ economic security, promote work, and help young adults in their journey toward economic opportunity and mobility in the labor market.

In this joint report by Young Invincibles and the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University, we explore the current structure of the childless EITC; examine the financial profile of young adults currently left out; and identify the potential income and anti-poverty effects of expanding the childless EITC to both include childless adults aged 18 and older and increasing the value of the childless EITC itself.

Expanding the EITC to include 18-24-year-olds provides important support for this overlooked demographic. Including those currently left out and increasing the credit value overall would provide meaningful financial relief and improve economic stability for all childless workers on low wages. As policymakers consider the path forward, these findings underscore the urgency of acting decisively to create a more equitable and supportive tax system.