Since its enactment in 1975, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has provided low-income Americans with a financial boost and continues to lift millions of people out of poverty every year. This reward for work can make all the difference for low-income working families trying to get ahead.
Indeed, the EITC also offers a boost to local economies, as local EITC filers are likely to spend almost all of the cash the federal government returns to them close to home. Thus, in these tough economic times, community leaders have many reasons to launch or expand a local EITC program.
Updates on changes to EITC policy, the basics of operating a strong EITC program, a couple of innovative models of effective rural tax prep programs that leverage the EITC for an even greater family Earn It, Keep It, Grow It benefit are all addressed here:
- October is Tax Time: Time to Ramp Up for EITC is a video recording of the October 21, 2010 RuFES ReFresher webinar. You can also separately download the slides from the webinar.
- Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) resources provides descriptions and contact information for a number of organizations that offer additional EITC resources.
Rural Family Economic Success Action Network 