Forty Years of the Earned Income Tax Credit: A Congressional Briefing on What’s Been Achieved and What Lies Ahead
EITC Awareness Day – Friday, January 30, 2015; 9-11 a.m. EST
- Russell Senate Office Building, Room 385
- Washington, D.C.
Featuring Keynote Speakers:
- Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Professor Kathryn Edin, Johns Hopkins University
Tax Credits for Working Families and the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) invite you to attend an EITC Awareness Day briefing on Capitol Hill. “It’s Not Like I’m Poor: New Research and Political Prospects for the Earned Income Tax Credit and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance“ will answer important questions about the EITC, including how workers use it, the role played by Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs and the political prospects for these federal policies. The briefing marks the 40th anniversary of the enactment of the EITC, now widely regarded as the nation’s most powerful anti-poverty program.
This event will bring leading researchers, policymakers, advocates and EITC recipients together to share their knowledge and first-hand experience with the EITC and to discuss the role VITA plays in ensuring all eligible workers receive the credit. Despite the EITC’s proven benefits, the credit goes unclaimed by one in five eligible workers.
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), a longtime advocate for the EITC and VITA, will speak on the importance of these programs and their political prospects in the coming years. Kathryn Edin, Distinguished Bloomberg Professor in the Department of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University will present insights from her upcoming book, It’s Not Like I’m Poor, drawn from in-depth interviews with over 100 low-income families.
The keynote speakers will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Greg Kaufman, editor of TalkPoverty.org, and will include Chye-Ching Huang, a Tax Policy Analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), as well as individuals with direct VITA volunteer and client experience.
A light breakfast will be served at 9 am and event activities will commence at 9:30 am. The event is free, but space is limited. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. RSVP by Monday, January 26.