Today is EITC Awareness Day – also referred to as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The EITC is a federal tax credit that encourages work by boosting the income of low- and moderate- income working people and offsets federal payroll and income taxes. The EITC has proven to be a powerful tool in helping lift families out of poverty and improving the well-being of young children.
In 2007, a state EITC was established to help further boost the wages of low- and moderate-income workers in North Carolina and offset the higher share of state and local taxes they pay as a percent of their income compared to high-income workers. More than 900,000 North Carolinians claimed this tax credit in 2011, according to the most current tax information provided by the NC Department of Revenue. The impact of the EITC spans across the state, with taxpayers in each of the state’s 100 counties claiming the tax credit (see this interactive map).
Unfortunately, this tax filing season will mark the last year that low- and moderate-income North Carolina workers will benefit from the state EITC. State leaders allowed the state EITC to expire at the end of last year and chose not to extend the tax credit as part of the tax plan passed last year. As a result, the expiration of the state EITC represents a tax increase for more than 900,000 hardworking low- and moderate-income North Carolina taxpayers, for which every dollar counts in their efforts to make ends meet.
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