Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, has been around for decades—but it can be the basis of a revolutionary change across America.
It’s time for a bold new idea to boost wages.The challenges are well known: Working Americans are struggling to keep up with the increasing cost of living. Unemployment is low, but wages of most Americans have remained flat. At the same time, the cost of everything from child care to health care to housing has been soaring. More than ¾ of Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck. Most can’t afford a $500 emergency.
Second: Extend the Earned Income Tax Credit into the middle class, so even families earning the median family income—which was just about $76,000 in 2017—will benefit. This would be a huge help to working-class families, many of whom are now one paycheck away from poverty.