Build on EITC Awareness Day to Push for Expanding the EITC


February 2, 2016
by Meredith Dodson, RESULTS Director of US Poverty Campaigns

Last Friday, advocates on Capitol Hill and across the country celebrated “EITC Awareness Day.” In addition to local events to get the word out about tax credits to low-income working families, RESULTS participated in a standing-room-only Capitol Hill briefing hosted by Tax Credits for Working Families and CFED, which featured Johns Hopkins Professor Kathryn Edin, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Laurie-Anne Sayles, who shared firsthand how important the EITC was to her family. At least 64 Congressional staff RSVP’d for the event – congratulations to many of you who urged tax staffers to attend! Advocates celebrated Congress’s work to save key EITC and CTC provisions in December, which the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports is the biggest anti-poverty legislative victory outside of the Affordable Care Act in over 20 years, and discussed expanding the EITC for younger workers and those who do not claim children when filing their taxes – a proposal with support from House Speaker Ryan and President Obama. We urge you to watch the video of the event for a deeper understanding of ways we can further expand tax credits.

Let’s build on the momentum of last year’s tax deal by pushing Congress to expand the EITC by submitting LTEs and contacting schedulers to set up face-to-face meetings with your representatives and senators for the Presidents’ Day recess (week of February 15). You can find contact information and the names of the Washington DC schedulers on our Elected Officials page (under “Staff”), and see the January Action and our online meeting request tool for tips on requesting meetings and language to use in your verbal or written request. If you cannot get a sit-down meeting, be sure to ask if they have any town halls scheduled for that week. If they’re booked up in February, ask for the next possible date to meet (even if it’s a few months out). Once you get your meeting scheduled, contact Meredith Dodson ([email protected]) to get specific details about topics and requests for your meeting. Use our updated tax credits laser talk to help you prepare, print off a copy of our updated U.S. Poverty Lobby Request to leave behind with your members of Congress, and don’t forget to bring copies of media you have generated!

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