Congresswoman Gwen Moore Introduces Legislation to Improve Awareness of Tax Credit Programs for Working People
Washington,
July 9, 2020
Congresswoman Gwen Moore Introduces Legislation to Improve Awareness of Tax Credit Programs for Working People Today, Congresswoman Moore introduced the Earned Income and Child Tax Credit Outreach Act of 2020, legislation that would create an outreach program to inform Americans who are eligible for but may be missing out on accessing these important tax credits for working people for various reasons and the availability of free tax help. This bill would take advantage of the IRS tool recently developed to distribute the Economic Impact Payments authorized in the CARES Act to Americans who do not file tax returns to inform them of their potentially being eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC). In response, Congresswoman Moore released the following statement: “The EITC and CTC are powerful tools in alleviating poverty that pull around 9 million Americans out of poverty and lessening poverty for over 28 million more. But too many who are eligible for these credits aren’t claiming them. Around 20% of people eligible for the EITC don’t claim it. They might not know that the credit exists. Or, they might not file a tax return because their income is so low that filing a return is not compulsory. What they might not realize is that the EITC and a portion of the CTC are refundable tax credits. That means, if you qualify for one or both credits, they can reduce how much tax you owe below zero and the IRS will still send you the remaining amount of the credit as a refund. That’s cash in your pocket. To improve the uptake of the EITC, the IRS has sponsored an annual awareness day for over a decade. But the participation rate has barely budged. This legislation is a real opportunity to help a lot of working poor people and parents. Over 6 million individuals have successfully used the IRS non-filer online portal. When you consider that and the fact that 25 million taxpayers claimed the EITC in 2019, by reaching these 6 million people we could possibly close the participation gap or get darn close to it.” Find background information on the Earned Income and Child Tax Credit Outreach Act of 2020 here. |
