It’s a program to help low and middle-wage earners
Frederick, MD (KB) State Comptroller Peter Franchot said residents who are low and middle-wage earners with dependents are eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit this tax season.
“If you’re making less than $57,000 dollars and you have dependents, you can get up to a $6,000 dollar check when you file your taxes,” he explained. “That means you don’t pay taxes, you get a $6,000 dollar check back from the government.”
Franchot said this program is a way to thank these workers who are “doing the right thing.”
“We do that in order, at the state and federal level, to say thank you for working in jobs that need to be done but are not highly paid,” he said. “You’re doing the right thing by working, you’re just not getting paid enough and you have dependents.”
According to the Comptroller, this tax program is an effective tool to fight poverty.
“It’s an unbelievably effective anti-poverty tool because it allows people to move up out of these low-wage jobs into higher wage jobs where they don’t qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit,” said Franchot. “But they’re on the path to the middle-class where they own a car, they own a home, they have some financial stability.”
Franchot said this program should be especially helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re going to allow people to go back to 2019, the income they were making in that year, and claim that same income for 2020 even though they may have been laid off,” he stated.
Franchot said he wants to remind eligible citizens to apply for the program when they start to file taxes in February.
He said the CASH Campaign, as well as the Comptroller’s Office, offer free tax preparation to low and moderate-income families.