Elaine Maag is a senior fellow in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute and a codirector of Innovations in Cash Assistance for Children. She is an expert on the taxation of low- and middle-income families. Her work examines the interactions between tax and transfer programs, the impact of cash supports, how well taxes support families, and the administration of tax and transfer programs.

Maag has testified before state and federal congressional committees and advised congressional staff members and administration officials on the taxation of families with children and on higher education and work incentives in the tax code. Maag codirected the creation of the Net Income Change Calculator, a tool that allows users to understand the trade-offs between tax and transfer benefits and changes in earnings or marital status.

Before joining Urban, Maag worked at the Internal Revenue Service and at the Government Accountability Office as a presidential management fellow. She was the inaugural senior tax policy adviser in the Equity Hub of the US Treasury Department.

Maag holds an MS in public policy analysis from the University of Rochester.

Maag serves on the editorial board of the National Tax Journal and is a member of the Code for America Tax Benefits Advisory Committee, the National Academy for Social Insurance, and Humanity Forward’s bipartisan Advisory Board.