The tax code encourages people to save through billions of dollars in tax incentives for homeownership, retirement, and other goals, including the Saver’s Credit, which rewards low- and moderate-income families who make contributions to retirement accounts. Yet the vast majority of benefits from retirement-tax incentives—about 80 percent—go to the top 20 percent of income earners. Some have suggested, however, that savings incentives help low- and moderate-income families increase how much they save—which generates net new savings—while higher-income earners are more likely to simply move existing savings into tax-advantaged accounts.

...This issue brief looks at some of the problems low-income families face in building wealth at tax time, the pilot programs and policy developments that have been able to potentially increase savings, and current proposals to make tax-time savings more popular and effective. (authors introduction)