Maryland Expands Its EITC
This week, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) signed a COVID-19 relief package, the Recovery for the Economy, Livelihoods, Industries, Entrepreneurs, and Families (RELIEF) Act, that increases the value of the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
Maryland’s refundable EITC will increase from 28 percent to 45 percent of the federal credit and 100 percent of the federal credit for filers without dependent children over the next three years. According to legislative staff, this expansion will make Maryland’s EITC the most generous in the country. The CASH Campaign of Maryland and the Maryland Center on Economic Policy estimate that the expansion will benefit over 400,000 Marylanders. In addition to expanding the credit, the package includes a direct stimulus payment to state EITC-eligible filers.
Democrats attempted to include a provision to expand the credit to filers using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs), but it was removed from the final package. House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County) and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) pledged to consider separate legislation to expand the credit and relief efforts to ITIN filers.
To learn more about other state-level tax credits across the country, visit our 50-state map here.