We need legislators to do the right thing for working families

By: Posted bySabine Brown Posted inInfo to Action

The Earned income Tax Credit (EITC) is a highly effective anti-poverty tool that boosts works and keeps families out of poverty. Write to your legislators and ask them to restore this tax credit this session by going to oksays.com.

In 2016, the Legislature cut the state EITC to help balance the books during a severe budget crisis. Across the state, more than 200,000 working families lost some or all of their credit because of this cut. Making the state EITC non-refundable means that it does far less to reduce poverty and encourage work, particularly among workers earning the least. Families that receive the EITC are working hard to stay afloat and make ends meet, and cutting this critical boost to their financial stability was the wrong way to fill the state budget hole.

The good news is that this cut could be reversed this session – but we need your help to make sure that happens! Visit our new EITC website to get more information about the credit and how many people in your county were affected by the cuts. Then take action by writing to your legislators and ask them to restore the full-worth of the EITC.

We need legislators to do the right thing for working families and restore the full refundablity of the Oklahoma’s Earned Income Tax Credit. With your help, we can make sure this is the year it happens.

 

Published by Sabine Brown

Sabine Brown joined the Oklahoma Policy Institute as an Infrastructure and Access Senior Policy Analyst in January 2022. She previously worked at OK Policy from January 2018 until September 2020 as the Outreach and Legislative Director, and received a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa. Before joining OK Policy she served as the Oklahoma Chapter Leader for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Sabine also earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Health Science from the University of Oklahoma and was a physician assistant prior to discovering advocacy work. She grew up in Germany but has called Oklahoma home since 1998.