The Ohio Senate Finance Committee is considering changes to Governor John Kasich's mid-term budget plan. Among the measures is a proposed 5 percent increase in the state's Earned Income Tax Credit. Hannah Halbert with the progressive-leaning think tank Policy Matters Ohio wants lawmakers to bring the credit more into line with the federal one, and make it refundable.
The E-I-T-C is one of the nation's most effective anti-poverty programs. In 2012, the federal credit helped lift 6 million Americans out of poverty, half of whom were children.
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18 percent of low-income Ohio families last year claimed the federal credit, getting an average refund of more than 2 thousand dollars.