Earned Income Tax Credit crucial for
low- to middle-class wage earners
Fifty years ago President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a “war on poverty,” which at the time affected 20 percent of the U.S. population.
Johnson knew first hand the ravages of poverty. As a youth Johnson’s father, once a successful businessman and state legislator, fell onto hard times, never to recover. From then on out the family was destitute, often relying on the kindness of strangers for food on the table. The family lived in constant fear of being thrown out on the street.
Johnson felt the sting of poverty not only from the real pangs of hunger, but also from the humiliation it brings. Once in power, Johnson took it on as a personal crusade to create programs that give a hand up, not a handout, to those in need. His Great Society reforms began in 1964.
Programs included Head Start, a preschool program for children from low-income households, and a guarantee of health insurance for the elderly and the poor through Medicare and Medicaid.
Despite such widespread programs, we’re still fighting the war. Today, the U.S. poverty rate is closer to 15 percent. During the 1970s it got as low as 11 percent.
So no, we have not “won” the war, but perhaps a better way to look at the initiatives is what would our country be like without the social programs enacted 50 years ago.
According to a study at Columbia University, the U.S. poverty rate would have soared to 31 percent in 2012, without Medicare and Medicaid. The elderly, in particular, have been protected from the ravages of poverty because of the two programs.
Likewise, early education programs help keep students in school and on a track to being productive citizens.
We can help the low-income and middle class keep their heads above water by keeping the Earned Income Tax Credit on the books. The EITC is a tax refund for working people who have low to moderate incomes. The tax incentive keeps low-income people working and is cited as the most effective tool for keeping children out of poverty.
President Ronald Reagan heralded the tax credit as the “best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress.”
The refund has become a target of ultra-conservatives, saying it costs too much for states and the federal government to fund.
Kansas currently participates in the EITC, matching 17 percent of the federal credit level, down from 18 percent.
In his State of the State address last year, Gov. Brownback proposed eliminating the EITC as part of a significant tax system revision. To afford his tax cuts for the wealthy, he would eliminate the tax credit for the poor and middle class.
The measure ultimately failed, but not for lack of urging by our governor.
Listen for Brownback to raise the issue again when he delivers his State of the State to the Kansas Legislature this Wednesday night.
— Susan Lynn
Having walked in their shoes, LBJ knew the trials of the poor
