On June 6, Reps. Dan Kildee (D-MI) and Dwight Evans (D-PA) introduced a bill that would substantially expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC). The Working Families Tax Relief Act (H.R. 3157) is the House counterpart to a Senate bill (S. 1138) introduced in April by Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown (OH), Michael Bennet (CO), Richard Durbin (IL), and Ron Wyden (OR). The Senate bill currently has 46 cosponsors.

As previously reported on CHN’s blog, Voices for Human Needs, the bill would expand and improve the EITC and CTC in multiple ways. Specifically, the bill would expand the EITC for families with children by approximately 25 percent; significantly expand the EITC for workers who aren’t raising children in their homes (the sole group that the federal tax code taxes into, or deeper into, poverty); make the credit available for people starting at age 19 up to age 67; and provide a match for Puerto Rico’s new EITC. Additionally, the bill would make the CTC fully refundable so children in households with little or no earnings will benefit from it. It would also establish a higher Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC) for families with children under six years old.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that the legislation would raise the incomes of 46 million low- and moderate-income households with 114 million people. It would lift 29 million people, including 11 million children, above or closer to the poverty line.

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