[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 15 (Thursday, January 29, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S662-S663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT AWARENESS DAY
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, tomorrow, Friday, January 30, is Earned
Income Tax Credit Awareness Day. It is a day to highlight a vital tool
for Americans working--and I emphasize ``working''--their way out of
poverty.
Too many Americans work hard, play by the rules, take responsibility
for their lives, but simply can't get ahead. They are in low-wage
jobs--sometimes two low-wage jobs--and don't really have much
opportunity where they live or due to their circumstances to get a job
that pays closer to a living wage. There are millions of Americans
living in this situation. The EITC helps provide for their children, to
build economic security to allow them to pursue the American dream.
Signed into law in 1975, expanded by every single President since
then, the EITC was created to make sure we have a tax system that
provides an incentive to work. That is what it has done.
EITC's expansion in the 1990s led more than half a million single
mothers to move from cash welfare assistance to work, making it twice
as effective--without the side effects, I might add--as welfare reform.
Since its creation, EITC has lifted more children above the poverty
line than any other government program.
I will emphasize that it rewards work, most importantly. In 2012, 28
million American households--almost 1 million from my State of Ohio--
benefited from the EITC with an average credit of more than $2,300.
I met Juanalicia Duran in Cleveland last year. She told me she lives
paycheck to paycheck not because she overspends, not because she is
irresponsible, but simply because she does not make a lot of money. She
said receiving the EITC is the one time of year
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she pays off her bills. She is barely making it, getting a little bit
behind week after week, month after month, then she gets that check
of--I don't know how much Juanalicia Duran gets, but on average she
gets a check for a little over $2,000. It helps her to pay her bills
and maybe get a little bit ahead.
Rosa Olea of Toledo works as a manager of a fast food restaurant and
makes $9.35 an hour. Imagine that--a manager of a restaurant making
$9.35 an hour. She said her family struggles to pay bills. The EITC has
been a lifesaver since she found out about it through her local VITA
center.
There are thousands of stories like this, and we hear hundreds and
sometimes thousands of them from Ohioans.
In last week's State of the Union Address, President Obama laid out
plans to reform the Tax Code by making the current earned-income tax
credit and child tax credit permanent by expanding credit for middle-
class families to raise children and save for retirement. Some in this
town responded--not surprisingly--by saying that reforming the Tax Code
starts with cutting taxes for big business. Think about that.
Most of the time, I hear people in this town--people with good
titles, paid well, dressed well, getting a good government pension and
health care benefits--say that the first thing we need to do with tax
reform is lower the corporate tax rate. It is all about trickle-down
economics. You cut taxes on big companies, you cut taxes on the
wealthy, and maybe it will trickle down and help workers and families.
Well, the experience of the last 25 years doesn't really say that.
The one time we tried trickle-down for a decade--from 2000 to 2010--we
had no net private sector job gain in this country. Zero. But when we
tried focusing on the middle class and growing the economy from the
middle out during the Clinton years, we had a 22-million--it may have
been almost 23 million--private sector net increase in jobs. And since
the auto rescue, when we have focused on the middle class for the last
5 or 6 years by building the economy out, we have had job growth for 56
or 57 months in a row.
If we are going to reform the Tax Code, we need to draw a line in the
sand: No tax breaks for corporations without tax breaks first for
working families.
There is one glaring hole with the earned-income tax credit. Under
current law, workers without children who are making minimum wage
barely receive any EITC. Childless workers under 25 don't qualify at
all. That makes young people and workers without children the only
group who can be taxed deeper into poverty.
My State of the Union guest was Jason Jacobs, a Cincinnati resident
and paraprofessional. He is a college graduate. He went to Ohio
University. He has a degree to teach. He has not found a full-time
teaching job. He is a paraprofessional in the West Clermont School
District who works with special needs students and does the kinds of
things people should be rewarded for. Last year he made less than
$16,000. I believe he is paid hourly. He is obviously not paid in the
summer. He is not paid on nonschool days. Because he doesn't have
children, he will miss out on this critical tax credit.
That is why my legislation, the Working Families Tax Relief Act, will
nearly triple the size of the earned-income tax credit for workers
without children, expand access to young workers, and will make
permanent enhancements to the EITC to 2017.
We know what this will do. We know that children from low-income
families where the families are eligible and qualify and earn the
EITC--and I say earned the earned-income tax credit. That is why it is
called earned--because these are always working families who are
playing by the rules, doing the right thing, and taking responsibility.
We know that children from families who have earned the EITC have
higher test scores, higher high school graduation rates, and higher
college attendance rates. Expanding EITC means more people attending
college and more people getting GEDs. It means working more hours and
higher salaries. Why wouldn't we invest in the earned-income tax
credit? It means stronger communities.
If we fail to act to renew the provisions that expire in 2017, 50
million Americans would lose all or part of the EITC and CTC--50
million Americans who are doing the right thing. They are working hard
and taking responsibility for their lives. We would just give up on
them? We would be glad to do corporate tax breaks, but we would give up
on the 50 million working Americans?
Sixteen million of them--including 8 million children, if we don't
renew--will be pushed into poverty or deeper into the poverty they are
already in. It is the worst kind of class warfare aimed at working
families. These workers need help to get out of poverty, not to be
taxed into it.
Renewing the expanded EITC will help so many people in this country.
It is not just the right thing to do; it is the smart thing to do
because it will bring more wealth to our communities. They will spend
the money locally. It will help small businesses, and it will make a
big difference in a lot of lives.
While we work to renew and expand this program, I encourage Ohioans
who may be eligible for the EITC to visit the IRS Web site irs.gov or
call 1-800-906-9887 or find a local Volunteer Income Tax Assistance
Center, VITA. It is a vital and free resource for working families.
To receive EITC, all you have to do is file your taxes. That is it.
You have earned it; just ask for it. Spread the word about EITC. It is
a bridge out of poverty and serves millions of American families across
Ohio and across the Nation.
I yield the floor.
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