Means-Tested Programs & Tax Credits for Low Income People: Spending Trends

The federal government devotes roughly one-sixth of its spending to ten major means-tested programs and tax credits, which provide cash payments or assistance in obtaining health care, food, housing, or education to people with relatively low income or few assets. Total federal spending on these ten programs rose more than tenfold, or by an average of about six percent a year, in the four decades since 1972. In this book, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) examines the federal government’s major means-tested programs and tax credits, with a focus on the factors that have affected spending on those means-tested programs. Also discussed is the projected path of spending for most of these programs over the coming decade if current laws remain in place.