Contact: Linda Frame, 304-720-8682
(Charleston, WV) Today the Invest in Working Families Coalition launched its interactive tool to show how a West Virginia Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) can help working families make ends meet while boosting the economy. The coalition is made up of 18 groups from across the state coming together to support a West Virginia EITC. The new website, www.investinwvfamilies.org, shows the boost to families and local economies that an EITC would bring. PDF of news release.
“It’s common sense,” said Seth DiStefano, spokesman for the Invest in Working Families Coalition. “When you let working families keep more of what they earn, they put that money right back into their local economies.”
Over 141,000 working families in West Virginia could keep more of their earnings if the state became the 26th to enact a state-level EITC. The tax credit can only be claimed by people who pay taxes and work low-wage jobs.
“Since the current legislature has set a priority on reevaluating our current state tax structure, we feel that now is the time to take a close look at establishing a state EITC to help working families make ends meet,” stated Gary Zuckett, executive director of the West Virginia Citizen Action Group. “It’s time for us to join the majority of other states that have successfully enacted this proven anti-poverty program that rewards work, that’s a hand up, not a hand out.”
A West Virginia EITC would help more people keep working despite low wages. When people keep more of what they earn, they can spend it in the economy on necessities like groceries, school supplies, or car repairs. This extra help means kids do better and go further in school, families are healthier, and their economic situation is improved. As a result of getting a better start as children, kids whose families received the EITC are more likely to become productive adults and earn more as adults.
“The EITC is a common-sense tax break that helps people make ends meet and keep working, despite low wages, which benefits their families, communities and local economies,” explained Jennifer Thacker, executive director of the West Virginia Alliance for Sustainable Families.
The coalition plans to use its new website to educate lawmakers and members of the community on the specific benefits thousands of West Virginians, and the economies in which they live, would stand to gain by creation of a West Virginia EITC.
For more information, including an interactive look at how much a West Virginia EITC would boost local economies visit, www.investinwvfamilies.org.
