Do earned income tax credits for older workers prolong labor market participation and boost earned income? Evidence from Australia's mature age worker tax offset

Abstract

We examine Australia's Mature Age Worker Tax offset (MAWTO), a targeted earned income tax credit of up to $500 to incentivize participation of older workers that existed from 2004-05 to 2014-15. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that MAWTO increased labor market participation by around 0.5 percentage points. For women only, it had a small impact on earnings of about 1.5 per cent. We estimate that the average cost for each person induced to work longer is between $37,000 and $78,000. Show more