Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown and other Senate Democrats have introduced new legislation called the Working Families Tax Relief Act that would expand a tax credit for low- and middle-income individuals and families.
The bill aims to broaden the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which allows qualifying workers to claim a bigger refund. Depending on who鈥檚 filing, and whether they have kids, the credit can be worth a maximum of $529 for an individual with no children to $6,557 for an individual with three or more qualifying children.
Brown says it鈥檚 a good idea that could be better.
鈥淭here are still a lot of people left out,鈥� said Brown, during a news conference on Wednesday announcing the bill. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e 22-years-old, and you鈥檙e single, you get taxed into poverty. And we wanted to fix that.鈥�
The bill calls for lowering the minimum age to qualify for the EITC from 25 to 19 and increasing the credit for workers with children by about 25 percent.
Brown didn鈥檛 say how the measure would be paid for.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have a cost estimate for it,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he cost of poverty is higher than whatever this will cost to provide opportunity for families, particularly the lowest income families with children.鈥�
Other sponsors of the bill include Michael Bennet (D-CO), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Ron Wyden Wyden (D-OR). So far, 44 senators have signed on to the bill, though none of the sponsors are Republican.
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