State EITC Information and Policy Briefs | EITC Information By Legislative District | Events | Testimony | Media Coverage | Take Action | Links

A State Earned Income Tax Credit: A Pro-Family, Pro-Business Policy

Connecticut Association for Human Services is leading a broad coalition of advocates, labor leaders, community-based providers, and faith-based leaders on a campaign to enact a State EITC in Connecticut.  In the 2006 legislative session, this coalition nearly succeeded in getting a State EITC passed. As a result of this statewide education and advocacy campaign, the state EITC was placed front and center in the final hours of budget negotiations.  Please join us to pass this crucial poverty reduction measure.

The Federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a tax credit for low- and moderate-income working families.  The EITC is widely hailed for its success in reducing poverty, subsidizing work, bolstering the workforce, stimulating the economy, and making the tax code fairer.  For these reasons, 21 states have enacted EITCs that piggyback on the federal credit and build on its success.  Connecticut is the only New England state with an income tax that does not have a state EITC.

A Connecticut State EITC would:

• Make Work Pay – the credit only goes to working people.

• Help Low-Wage Earners – only those earning on the low end can take advantage of the credit – that means a family of four earning no more than $38,000.  A family could receive as much as $900.

• Pump Money into the Local Economy – EITC filers spend the refund in their communities on basic household necessities.

• Reduce Poverty - The federal EITC reduces child poverty nationally by 25%, and state EITCs build on this. The goal of the Child Poverty and Prevention Council is to reduce child poverty by 50% by 2014.

• Make the Tax System Fairer – Connecticut workers earning less than $21,000 pay on average more than twice the rate on combined sales, property, excise, and income taxes than the wealthiest 1% of state residents.