Stand up for kids!
Sen. Roger Kahn of Saginaw Township Tuesday introduced legislation to eliminate the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a credit for low-income working families to help offset the taxes they pay.
Ironically enough, he introduced this bill to end a proven poverty-fighting tool on the day when the Kids Count in Michigan report showed a startling increase in child poverty.
The reality is that if the state EITC is eliminated, about 14,000 kids in working families will be pushed into poverty. An additional 700,000 people in working families with kids will suffer greater poverty without the state tax credit. We applaud Gov. Rick Snyder, who included child poverty on his MiDashboard as one indicator of the state’s economic strength. It’s an important indicator of how kids, our future generations, are doing. Child poverty is related to many other child well-being indicators as well.
Though there seems to be general bipartisan consensus that child poverty is not a good thing, in introducing this legislation targeting our vulnerable children, Senator Kahn, a Republican, was joined by six of his GOP colleagues: Senators Booher, Brandenburg, Jones, Meekhof, Nofs and Pavlov.
Sen. Kahn and these senators need to hear from people who care about the well-being of our kids. They need to hear that elimination of the state EITC, which will increase child poverty in Michigan, is the wrong thing to do.
As elected leaders, they can’t have it both ways. They can’t say they care about kids and want to help alleviate their poverty and then eliminate a tax credit that helps keep kids and their families out of poverty.
To find contact information for these senators, and for your senator, click here. We can’t stand quietly while our most vulnerable kids are attacked.
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