As the country and courts continue to debate the importance of marriage in a variety of contexts, when determining Social Security benefits it is clear that marriage matters. Marriage matters for Social Security benefits planning because of meaningful spouse and survivor benefits. Given the...

Almost fifty years ago in 1965, on the steps of the State Capital in Montgomery, Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., asked a crowd of twenty-five thousand "How long will prejudice blind the visions of men, darken their understanding, and drive bright-eyed wisdom from her sacred throne?" The...

Selecting the best age to begin social security benefits is an important election for lower-income individuals. These individuals are especially vulnerable to the timing and magnitude of critical cash flow. Unfortunately, the decision models and measures being used by individuals to analyze...

Fifty years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the War on Poverty. Since then, the federal tax code has been a fundamental tool in providing financial assistance to poor working families. Even today, however, thirty-two million children live in families that cannot support basic living...

The Aloha State has been on the front line of justice for decades, including tax justice. This is the story of a two-decade-plus journey of the Hawaii earned income tax credit — including how the state might better serve financially challenged residents as they navigate the global pandemic’s...

At their core, taxpayer rights are human rights. They are about our inherenthumanity.—Nina E. OlsonThe federal income tax system does not exist for statutes, regulations, codes, enforcement, assessments, collection, redistribution, procedures, publications, liens, levies, refunds, liabilities,...

Every day in its annual spinning rotation around the sun the Earth moves from darkness into light. During these 24 hours more than 1,700 American babies are born into poverty. One newborn is delivered into poverty every single minute of every single day in America. About 900 of these beautiful...

Since the first ship of enslaved African people landed in Virginia in 1619, racist policies in institutions, systems, structures, practices, and laws have ensured inequity for people of color. These racist policies include every imaginable variant of injustice from slavery to lynching, to...