in the CTC (Child Tax Credits) and TANF of over $25 billion and $18 billion, respectively. (Source: Office of

Management and Budget)

In recent years, the EITC has become a hugely expensive government program for providing income

assistance to people below or near the poverty line, costing about $60 billion in 2021. In that year, the EITC

provided benefits to about 25 million families and individuals and, on average, is worth about $2,411 per

family (with children), according to the Tax Policy Center. One reason that the TANF law worked as well as it

did is that the government greatly expanded EITC in the late 1980s and again in the early 1990s, which

increased the returns to work for low-income Americans.
368 15 • Poverty and Economic Inequality

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

Often called “food stamps,” Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federally funded
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