Research Participants: Who Is Represented

As part of the Get My Payment Illinois Coalition, in 2021 and 2022 the New America Chicago team worked with partners at Heartland Alliance to listen to low- and lower middle-income tax filers, people who earn poverty wages and don’t need to file, as well as VITA programs and social service agencies helping people claim their Child Tax Credits and stimulus checks, sometimes for the first time. Our research draws from the direct experiences of 34 individuals and the experiences of over 27 VITA experts and nonprofit staff who directly helped hundreds of additional tax filers, primarily in Illinois. Four worked in other parts of the country. These staff members also shared experiences from their colleagues.

Among the 34 individuals whose direct experiences are included, the New America Chicago team interviewed 20 participants from around the state of Illinois about their experiences claiming the enhanced Child Tax Credit during the pandemic, as well as asking them to review past experiences with the IRS non-filer tool or GetCTC.org. For those who had not used the tool, we walked these participants through an user experience activity where they gave responses to each page of one or more free tools used to help non-filers request their Child Tax Credit or other tax credits. We asked an additional four participants to complete a four-part user experience exercise, where they searched the internet for free tax filing options, reviewed GetCTC.org, and shared their understanding of each page and their reactions (one person was also included in the interviewees mentioned above). Our team also received de-identified, relevant quotes from an additional 11 interviews conducted by research partners. Pseudonyms have been used where there are quotes to protect participants’ privacy.

To learn more about the barriers that keep some people from filing taxes and receiving their tax credits, we also compiled data from meetings and surveys with 15 Illinois nonprofits and three Illinois city or county governments who provided information about filing for the Child Tax Credit and stimulus checks to low- and middle-income communities during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The New America Chicago team also reviewed quotes from VITA experts who help low-income individuals and families complete their taxes.

For the purposes of our research, the New America Chicago team attempted to focus on people who are normally not required to file taxes and as a result may miss out on tax credits owed them, as well as parents of young children, to learn more about their specific barriers. Among our interviewees and bloggers, just over half (57 percent or n=13) earned too little money to be required to file, approximately less than $25,000 per year for a married couple filing jointly and half that for a single filer (at the time of interviewing). Our results also include information from de-identified quotes from eight people who normally earn too little to be required to file taxes (also known as non-filers) interviewed by Heartland Alliance, where relevant.

Over half (52 percent or n=12) of New America Chicago’s participants were raising a child or family member aged three or younger. Interviewees came from urban, suburban, and rural areas, with 61 percent from the City of Chicago, 22 percent from surrounding suburban areas, and 17 percent from central or southern rural Illinois. For this project, we were also particularly interested in the experiences of the Black and Latina/o communities, so we attempted to oversample those taxpayers as they have historically faced additional barries to accessing the CTC. Just over half (56.5 percent or n=13) were African American or Black, just over a quarter (26 percent or n=6) were Latina/o, and 17 percent were white (n=4). One was multiracial.