EITC as Part of an Equitable State Policy Response

A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities encourages states to enact and strengthen state-level Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) to create an anti-racist policy response to the COVID-19 crisis. The report – 3 Principles for an Anti-Racist, Equitable State Response to COVID-19 – and a Stronger Recovery, lays out principles to guide state policy makers:

• • Target aid to those most in need due to the COVID-19 and consequent economic
    crises.
  • Advance anti-racist and equitable policies — both short- and long-term — to
    dismantle persistent racial, gender, and economic inequities and other barriers that
    non-dominant groups and identities experience.
  • Protect state finances to preserve the foundations of long-term economic growth and opportunity

As part of a slate of policies that work toward dismantling persistent inequities, the report describes ways states can adopt and expand state EITCs, including expansion of the state tax credits to workers without social security numbers.