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Urban Institute: Income and Benefits Policy
Urban Institute reports from: Income and Benefits Policy - The Urban Institute is a nonprofit nonpartisan policy research and educational organization established to examine the social, economic, and governance problems facing the nation.

• The Impact of Late-Career Health and Employment Shocks on Social Security and Other Wealth
  About one-quarter of workers age 51 to 55 in 1992 developed health-related work limitations and about one-fifth were laid off from their jobs before age 62. Although late-career health and employment shocks often derail retirement savings plans, Social Securitys disability insurance, spouse and survivor benefits, and progressive benefit formula provide important protections. In fact, health shocks increase Social Security's lifetime value, primarily because the systems disability insurance allows some disabled workers to collect benefits before age 62. However, if the systems disability insurance program did not exist, the onset of health-related work limitations would substantially reduce Social Security wealth.
• Tax Considerations in a Universal Pension System (UPS)
  The inadequacy of the current U.S. public and private pension systems may warrant the establishment of a universal pension system (UPS), which would cover all workersfull-time and part-timeand require them to contribute at a level that can help provide them with adequate incomes when they retire. This paper develops options for a system of individual accounts to which, starting in 2007, each employee or self-employed worker would be required to contribute 3 percent of covered payroll (i.e., 3 percent of up to $97,500 in 2007). The UPS we describe would raise the total "replacement rate" for average wage men to 49.0 percent of final wagesprovided Social Security is fixedor 39.8 percent if not
• Retaining Older Volunteers Is Key to Meeting Future Volunteer Needs
  The boomers' impending retirement has spurred interest in tapping their productive energies to benefit society. This study examines older adults' decisions to stop or start formal volunteer work. The findings show that older adults usually stick with their original decisions, but more often stop than start volunteering. Volunteers who contribute a lot of hours over many years and who are married to volunteers are less likely to quit. And nonvolunteers are more likely to start volunteering if they have been uninvolved for few years and their spouses volunteer. The results highlight the importance of volunteer retention strategies for nonprofit agencies.
• Volunteer Transitions among Older Americans
  As the nation ages, older adults' volunteer activities are becoming increasingly important This study uses longitudinal data from a nationally representative survey to examine entries into and exits from volunteer activities by adults age 55 to 65. The findings reveal considerable persistence among both volunteers and nonvolunteers; however, older adults are more likely to stop volunteering than to start. Duration and intensity of volunteering, as well as marriage to a volunteer, are strong predictors of continued volunteer activities. And, the time spent away from volunteer activities, as well as marriage to a nonvolunteer decreases the odds of volunteer starts.
• Are We Taking Full Advantage of Older Adults' Potential?
  Staying engaged in work and formal volunteer activities at older ages significantly benefits the well-being of the volunteers, the organizations that count on them, the people served by those organizations, and the economy. This study, based on data from the Health and Retirement Survey, shows that over 10 million healthy older adults with no caregiving responsibilities did not work or volunteer in 2004. About half of these able seniors are under age 75 and 9 out of 10 have prior work experience. Given this untapped potential, shortages of volunteers and workers should prompt employers and nonprofits to court this talent.
• Revenue and Distributional Effects of the Individual Income and Estate Tax Provisions of Senator Thompson's Plan for Tax Relief and Economic Growth
  Republican Presidential Candidate Fred Thompson has announced a tax plan that combines tax cut extensions, additional tax cuts, and an election to pay tax under a new alternative tax system that would substitute a larger standard deduction for all current deductions and credits and have two rates of 10 and 25 percent. Thompson's plan would reduce federal revenues by $6-7 trillion over ten years, amounting to a reduction of almost 20 percent below current projections, and would be highly regressive. This article describes the proposed changes in the individual income and estate tax and examines their implications for revenue and the distribution of tax burdens.
• Should People Work Longer, and Will They?
  Older adults' employment is attracting attention as many baby boomers approach traditional retirement ages. This fact sheet examines the benefits of working longer, the characteristics of today's older workers, and recent changes in older Americans' labor supply.
• Are Employers Willing to Hire and Retain Older Workers?
  Older adults' employment is attracting attention as many baby boomers approach traditional retirement ages. This fact sheet examines employers' current attitudes toward older workers and the likely future demand for their services.
• Modeling Income in the Near Term 5
  This report describes the work the Urban Institute performed to generate the Model of Income in the Near Term, Version 5 (MINT5). MINT is a tool developed for The Division of Policy Evaluation (DPE) of the Social Security Administration (SSA) to analyze the distributional consequences of Social Security reform proposals. MINT is a micro-level data file of individuals born between 1926 and 2018. It starts with a rich set of income and demographic characteristics from the 1990 to 1996 Survey of Income and Program Particpation (SIPP) data linked to SSA data on earnings and benefits. MINT then projects these characteristics until death or the year 2099.
• Tax Code and Health Insurance Coverage : Before the House Committee on the Budget
  In this testimony Burman argues that there are limitations to using tax credits to expand health insurance coverage. A program of health insurance tax credits combined with reforms of the market for nongroup health insurance could significantly expand coverage, but at a very high cost. The testimony summarizes the current tax treatment of health insurance, the effects of tax subsidies on coverage and health care costs, and discusses ways that tax credits might affect health coverage. Burman offers recommendations and adds that the most cost-effective approach to expanding health insurance coverage may not be a tax subsidy at all, but an expansion of an existing public program, such as Medicaid, S-CHIP, or Medicare.
• TANF Caseload Composition and Leavers Synthesis Report
  Since the passage of federal welfare reform in 1996, policy makers have been concerned about the well-being of families that have left welfare as well as those who have remained on the caseload. This report synthesizes the most up-to-date research about what is known about the composition of the TANF caseload and the status of TANF leavers, and how this has changed over time. This synthesis is supplemented by tabulations of data from the NSAF, SIPP and CPS on the demographics, economic situation, and barriers to work of current and former TANF recipients over time.
• Booms and Busts: The Case of Subprime Mortgages
  Edward Gramlich, the Richard B. Fisher Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute and a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 1997 to 2005, died September 5. In his last paper, delivered at a Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City symposium shortly before his death, he called for swift action to fix the problems in the subprime mortgage market. The paper was presented by former Federal Reserve colleague David Wilcox, who offered "Four Images of Ned Gramlich" before reading Gramlich's "Booms and Busts: The Case of Subprime Mortgages."
• Tax Fairness, the 2001-2006 Tax Cuts, and the AMT : Testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means
  In this testimony Burman discusses the issues of tax fairness, the 2001 to 2006 tax cuts, and the individual alternative minimum tax. Burman argues that while the federal tax system mitigates economic inequality, the recent tax cuts have disproportionately benefited those at the top, while also increasing the number of people potentially subject to the AMT. He concludes with a brief discussion of how to fix the AMT in a fiscally responsible manner.
• Mental Health, Work and Mental Health Service Use among Low