The Earned Income Tax Credit: What It Does For CT, And How It Could Do Much More

The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) lifts more children out of poverty than any other federal program, and benefits 173,000 families in Connecticut. In 2005, about $286 million in federal EITC refunds came to Connecticut’s low-wage working families. These funds are spent quickly, stimulating Connecticut’s local urban, suburban and rural economies. Each of Connecticut’s neighboring states has a state EITC. Establishing a state EITC in Connecticut would help low-income families achieve self-sufficiency, address the growing disparity between high and low wage earners, and make our tax system more fair.