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The tax credit, which the conference has long advocated for as a way to help lift families out of poverty, has been targeted for elimination by some lawmakers in order to help alleviate a $1.8 billion state budget deficit.
The conference, which serves as the public policy voice for the dioceses of Michigan, was scheduled to have testified in front of the legislature this week, to speak in favor of keeping the EITC.
“Michigan’s low income workers should not bear the burden of setting straight the state’s fiscal house,” said Paul Long, president and CEO of the Michigan Catholic Conference, in a February statement responding to proposed cuts of the EITC. “The Earned Income Tax Credit does more to lift low-income workers out of poverty than any other policy.”
The state EITC actually would act as an extension of a similar federal tax credit. The Church points out that the tax credit acts “as a fertilizer for economic gardening efforts” that will ultimately help to boost the state’s tax revenue by helping families out of poverty.
“In order to continue moving low-income workers out of poverty, to encourage work and to address the high number of poor children living in this state, Michigan Catholic Conference looks forward to working with members on both sides of the aisle to preserve and protect the state Earned Income Tax Credit,” Long said.
Last week, the conference also urged Michigan House members in the Families, Children and Seniors Committee to abandon a proposal to carve funds out of the Family Independence Program, which provides state aid to poor families with children.
The conference warned that those cuts would leave 12,500 individuals and their children without needed state aid.
