Our state’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a proven program that working New Yorkers rely on. The EITC keeps more money in workers’ pockets, providing more money to spend on essentials like food, transportation, housing, education, and child care. The EITC provides critical support for workers, their families, local economies, and the state!
Before the pandemic, far too many New Yorkers were unable to earn a stable and sufficient income through work. This problem persisted despite the recent increases to our state’s minimum wage. Then COVID struck and the pandemic’s economic impact disproportionately affected our state’s part-time, hourly, and minimum wage workers, particularly women, Black and Latinx workers. The EITC can help address this disparity.
A new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities examines what an important tool state EITC’s are in the pandemic economy and recommends that all states have a robust EITC.
“Twenty-nine states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have enacted their own version of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to boost the incomes of people paid low wages.
Lawmakers in states without their own EITC should enact one. The small number of states that have cut back or eliminated their credits should reverse course, and those that have limited their credits should make the credit fully available to all families, no matter how much they owe at tax time. States should also expand their credits to those left out of the federal credit, particularly by ending the exclusion for immigrants filing with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number and by eliminating restrictions for individuals without children in the home.”
The complete report is available at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities website.