State Earned Income Tax Credits and Intimate Partner Violence

Background:

Intimate partner violence (IPV) persists as a pervasive public health concern in the United States, exerting profound impacts across multiple domains including physical, psychological, financial, and social spheres. Employment and income are critical in aiding IPV survivors in overcoming abusive environments and achieving economic independence. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a strategic anti-poverty initiative, promoting workforce participation and raising families above the poverty line. This study investigates the effect of state-level EITC policies on physical IPV incidence, hypothesizing that states offering more generous tax credits experience lower physical IPV rates over time.

Methods:

To investigate the effects of state-level Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on intimate partner violence (IPV), we utilized data on physical IPV incidents reported to the police from 2011 to 2019. Physical IPV was measured using the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), which, as of May 2023, encompassed 77% of the United States population. We selected 28 states where NIBRS data were reported by precincts covering at least 66% of the state's population. Table 1 details the specific states and years included in the dataset. NIBRS data were subsequently linked to policy variables sourced from the University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research and Control variables, such as race, urbanicity, poverty rate, and unemployment rate, were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS). We performed a generalized linear model with two-way fixed effects to estimate the relationship between the level of state EITC benefits and state-level IPV rates by quarter.

Findings:

State level of EITC was associated with lower levels of physical IPV reported to police. Specifically, each percentage point increase in state EITC was associated with a 23% decrease in the number of physical IPV events per 100,000 population reported to police. In terms of other policy variables, the size of the social safety net was associated with lower levels of IPV while the size of the uninsured low-income child population was associated with higher levels, though both of these effects were small in magnitude. The WIC participation rate was associated with a 55% decrease in the number of physical IPV events per 100,000 population reported to police.

Implications:

Results suggest potential promise for reducing family violence through economic supports. Expanding EITC generosity across all U.S. states, as well as implementing additional tax benefits for low-income working families are opportunities to leverage the growing body of research suggesting that reducing economic hardship can reduce violence.