In the News

SPRINGFIELD — Research suggests expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, like U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal wants to do, would boost 1.9 million Massachusetts families, giving a quarter of the state’s population tax cuts or refunds averaging $1,820 in 2020.

“And the best part about it is that it is an incentive to work,” said Neal, a Springfield Democrat and chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.

Neal spoke Tuesday during a gathering at Valley Venture Mentors and the Springfield Innovation Center in Springfield, where the Massachusetts Budget & Policy Center, a Boston-based think tank, released its most recent study on the tax credits. The meeting was organized by the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts, Springfield Works and Children’s HealthWatch of Boston.

Among MassBudget’s findings is that 20,932 Springfield tax filers benefited from the Earned Income Tax Credit in 2017, the most recent year for which data is available. That’s 32% of all tax filers in the city.

Neal is a longtime champion of both credits and is pushing hard for the expansion. To Republican colleagues, he gleefully quotes former President Ronald Reagan, who called the Earned Income Tax Credit the greatest job-creation tool the federal government had at its disposal.

"I think we have a great opportunity to expand the EITC and the CTC," he said.

Neal, his fellow congressional Democrats and the Massachusetts Budget & Policy Center would like the Earned Income Tax Credit expanded to include more workers under the age of 25 and workers who don’t claim a child on their tax returns as well. They’d also like to see more of the Child Tax Credit available to those with lower incomes — today, tax filers need to earn a certain amount to make full use — and they’d like to see larger credits for younger children in order to pay for child care.

The idea is to remove barriers that keep people out of the workforce, said Anne Shecrallah Kandilis, initiative director for Springfield Works. Barriers might include the potential loss of welfare benefits and the cost of child care in addition to a lack of skills or a lack of preparation for the job search and interview process. Approximately 42 out of 100 Springfield residents aged 16-64 are not working, she said.

"The tax credit will help get these people working," she said.

State Rep. Aaron Vega, D-Holyoke, and state Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, have a proposal for a pilot program that would lessen the “cliff” effect of earning money on eligibility for government programs, Shecrallah Kandilis said. The fear of losing eligibility keeps many out of the workforce, she said.