Policy Tools and Databases

The Income & Benefits Policy Center has developed several resources that can help policymakers, researchers, and students learn more about tax and benefit policies and their effects on the well-being of families.

Welfare Rules Database

The Welfare Rules Database (WRD) is a public-use website with extensive documentation on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and a detailed database of AFDC/TANF rules in effect for all 50 states and the District of Columbia for 1996 through 2005. This comprehensive resource allows users to: 

• Compare TANF assistance programs between states,
• Research changes in rules within one state, or
• Look for the most up-to-date TANF rules in a single state.

The user-friendly Welfare Rules Databooks describe the TANF program and provide tables of key TANF policies for all 50 states and DC, using data obtained from the WRD.

Marriage Calculator

The Marriage Calculator tool, built by UI for the Department of Health and Human Services, enables users to create a hypothetical family to determine the financial consequences of marriage. Based on the family's characteristics, the Calculator displays the financial effects when a man and woman live apart, cohabit, and get married, taking into account both taxes and selected transfer programs. Results are calculated for all states and for the District of Columbia.

• For quick results, view a set of Prepared Tables, created by the Marriage Calculator, illustrating how incomes change upon marriage or cohabitation for sample families with a range of characteristics.
• Search the State Marriage Policies Database for information on tax and transfer program rules related to marriage and cohabitation.

Government Benefits Simulation and Database

TRIM3—the Transfer Income Model—estimates eligibility for and participation in government benefits programs. It can also be used to estimate potential effects of alternative policies.

• Learn about rules of key government tax, transfer, and health programs and how they've changed over time.
• View TRIM3 Eligibility and Participation Rate Estimates for selected programs.
• Access detailed eligibility and participation data generated by annual baseline simulations through the Microdata Examiner or Summary Tables.

Taxes

The Tax Policy Center, a joint program of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, creates estimates about how tax proposals would likely change federal tax revenue and individuals' tax liabilities and after-tax income. The Tax Policy Center also maintains the Tax Facts database of information on individual and corporate taxes, low-income and high-income taxpayers, state tax revenues, tax systems in other countries, and a variety of other topics.