News Release: To Promote Dignity and Work, MCC Encourages Support for Proposed Increase to Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit

(Lansing, Mich.) — Tonight Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in her State of the State speech urged an increase to the state Earned Income Tax Credit, a policy Michigan Catholic Conference has supported since 2003 and for which the organization is offering its support this legislative session.

“While encouraging the human dignity that comes with work, the EITC is a pro-family, pro-children policy that provides a level of stability and assistance to help families get by and cover necessary expenses or emergencies,” said Paul A. Long, Michigan Catholic Conference President and CEO. “Tonight we are calling on Democrats and Republicans in the legislature and the governor’s office to collaborate on behalf of the working men and women in the state and their families who earn low-wages and struggle to make ends meet.”

During her State of the State speech, Gov. Whitmer encouraged the legislature to raise the state credit from six to 20 percent of the federal credit while Sen. Wayne Schmidt (R-Traverse City) has previously introduced legislation that phases in an increase to 30 percent of the federal credit. Michigan Catholic Conference is a long-time supporter of the tax credit and advocated for its creation in 2006, worked to preserve its existence at six percent of the federal credit in 2011 when the state tax code was re-written, and is now urging the use of state resources to increase the credit to assist working families in Michigan.

Michigan Catholic Conference is the official public policy voice of the Catholic Church in this state.

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