Republicans file bill to eliminate EITC

As expected, Michigan Senate Republicans submitted a bill on Tuesday that would eliminate the Earned Income Tax Credit, which goes to hundreds of thousands of the working poor in this state.

Eliminating the EITC would save $370 million a year but it would also clearly undermine Gov. Snyder’s stated goal of helping poor children achieve in schools:

The League Tuesday released its annual Kids Count Data Book, which reported that the percentage of children living in low-income households had grown from 32 percent to 44 percent in the past decade. League President Gilda Jacobs said a repeal that appears designed to pay for business tax cuts would push thousands more children into poverty.

“Gov. Snyder said in his State of the State address that we needed to establish a P-20 education system. That starts with prenatal care and ensures that poor children can attend school without hunger pains,” said Jacobs said. “The governor said child poverty was a key item on his (agenda). Lawmakers who support ending the EITC are saying they don’t care about children, and that they don’t care if child poverty rates go up.”

The state of Michigan gives away $36 billion a year in tax breaks to businesses, more than the state takes in in revenues every year. And the very first one the Republicans can think of to do away with is the one that helps poor families survive.