The Top 10 Reasons Why We Love the EITC
In honor of EITC Awareness Day, we’re sharing the top ten reasons why we love the Earned Income Tax Credit:
- The EITC rewards work. The credit helps more than 26 million working Americans keep more of what they’ve earned.
- The EITC fights poverty. It lifts more than six million people, including more than three million children, out of poverty each year.
- The EITC helps service members make ends meet. Millions of military families and veterans benefit from the credit.
- The EITC is temporary support for working Americans who have fallen on hard times. Most EITC filers claim the credit for only one to two years at a time.
- The EITC improves health outcomes, particularly for expectant mothers and infants.
- The EITC improves educational outcomes. Children in low-income families that benefit from state or federal EITC expansions perform better in school and are more likely to attend college.
- The EITC has long-term benefits for working women with children.
- The EITC boosts workforce participation rates. Not only does the EITC reward work, it also encourages it.
- The EITC enjoys bipartisan support. At the state and federal level, both Republicans and Democrats back the EITC as one of the best ways to reduce poverty and encourage work.
- The EITC can even help to increase life expectancy. Research shows that low-income individuals living in states that offer EITCs on top of the federal credit live longer than those in states that do not.