Everyone who works should be able to afford their basic needs like housing, health care, food, education and transportation. The purpose of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is to make sure your hard work pays better so you can afford your life expenses.

Here’s how the EITC works: if you work hard but earn a low wage, you get money back from the government based on exactly how much you earned and how many children you have.  It’s that simple.

The EITC helps everyone.  When you have more money to spend on the things and services you need, then local businesses do better and there are more jobs created in local communities.

We just won a big victory in California to bring the EITC to more of our hard working neighbors: next year, 1.7 million California families will be able to earn the EITC, nearly triple the number who could earn it this year.  Our big victory happened because we empowered tens of thousands of Californians to contact their representatives to champion the expansion of the EITC.  The income eligible for California’s EITC will increase to $22,300 up from $14,600.  In addition, California’s EITC will now be available for self-reported and freelancing income, which are kinds of income earned disproportionately by women and people of color.

Our vision is that every working Californian should live with full financial security and be able to afford their basic needs.  We can create this future if we choose the right policies.  It’s up to us to push our leaders toward those policies.  So, join our movement today and let’s get to work!

Joe Sanberg