Editor,

The Maine Earned Income Tax Credit is commonsense tax policy that recognizes and rewards work and makes it easier for low-income Mainers to make ends meet. That benefits individual families and our entire economy.

Maine’s EITC is among the smallest in the country, and this expansion is long-overdue. LD 1671, as amended by the Taxation Committee, will more than double the credit for working families and benefit roughly 100,000 Maine households. It will also make our lopsided tax code, in which the wealthiest pay less than any other group, a little fairer for working families.

This bill pays for itself by closing a loophole that allows multi-state corporations operating in Maine to pay lower taxes than our Maine-based companies that do business only within state borders.

ECEP endorses this commonsense tax reform bill and urges the Legislature to enact it this year.

Sarah Austin

Maine Center for Economic Policy