Casey Funds Efforts to Expand State Tax Refunds for Young Workers

Posted April 5, 2019
By the Annie E. Casey Foundation
New grants from Casey support efforts to expand state EITC programs to include young workers

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion has award­ed $260,000 to six orga­ni­za­tions seek­ing to expand their states’ Earned Income Tax Cred­it ben­e­fits to cov­er more young workers.

The six awardees are:

  1. Fis­cal Pol­i­cy Insti­tute (New York)
  2. Geor­gia Bud­get & Pol­i­cy Institute
  3. Maine Cen­ter for Eco­nom­ic Policy
  4. Mary­land Cen­ter for Eco­nom­ic Policy
  5. Michi­gan League for Pub­lic Policy
  6. Min­neso­ta Bud­get Project

Under the fed­er­al EITC pro­gram, some 25 mil­lion indi­vid­u­als and work­ing fam­i­lies received $63 bil­lion in refunds in 2018. Add to this 29 state-lev­el EITC pro­grams — plus one in the Dis­trict of Colum­bia — that help eli­gi­ble work­ers off­set their tax­es and achieve greater eco­nom­ic security.

Yet, one group — young sin­gle work­ers — are exclud­ed from the fed­er­al EITC and many state pro­grams. In states where they do receive EITC ben­e­fits, the cred­it falls short.

It’s time for states to offer the same ben­e­fits to young work­ers as they do all tax­pay­ers — and we know that EITC pro­vi­sions reduce pover­ty and pro­mote oppor­tu­ni­ty,” says Don Bay­lor Jr., a senior asso­ciate in the Foundation’s Cen­ter for Eco­nom­ic Oppor­tu­ni­ty. These invest­ments align with the Foundation’s work to enhance the finan­cial capac­i­ty of young work­ers and fam­i­lies and to build sup­port sys­tems in states that allow them to achieve eco­nom­ic success.”

Over the next year, the six awardees will devel­op and imple­ment effec­tive tac­tics and strate­gies to expand — or in some cas­es, cre­ate — state EITC ben­e­fits for young work­ers. The orga­ni­za­tions will also look to mobi­lize key play­ers — includ­ing law­mak­ers, employ­ers, and pri­vate and vol­un­teer tax prepa­ra­tion providers — to effect the need­ed pol­i­cy changes.

We’re eager to learn from these orga­ni­za­tions,” Bay­lor Jr. says. Each has a strong track record of suc­cess­ful­ly effect­ing pol­i­cy change in their states.”

Learn more about how the fed­er­al EITC aids work­ing families