How substantial are means-tested transfers in the United States? How have these transfers evolved over time, and what is their impact on the income distribution? We use microdata from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to document the scope of the main means-tested programs for...

We use micro data from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to document how households' tax liabilities vary with income, marital status and the number of dependents. We report facts on the distributions of average and marginal taxes, properties of the joint distributions of taxes paid and income,...