A HAND UP How State Earned Income Tax Credits Help Working Families Escape Poverty in 2001 By Nicholas Johnson Center on Budget and Policy Priorities December 2001 The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, located in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit research and policy institute that conducts research and analysis of government policies and the programs and public policy issues that affect low- and middle-income households. The Center is supported by foundations, individual contributors, and publications sales. :8 :8 :8 Board of Directors John R. Kramer, Chair Tulane Law School Henry J. Aaron Beatrix A. Hamburg, M.D. Robert D. Reischauer Brookings Institution Cornell Medical College Urban Institute Kenneth Apfel Frank Mankiewicz Audrey Rowe University of Texas at Austin Hill and Knowlton Lockheed Martin IMS Barbara Blum National Center for Richard P. Nathan Susan Sechler Children in Poverty Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute Rockefeller Foundation Columbia University Institute of Government David de Ferranti Juan Sepulveda, Jr. Marion Pines The World Bank The Common Enterprise/ Johns Hopkins University Marian Wright Edelman San Antonio Children’s Defense Fund Sol Price Chairman, The Price Company William Julius Wilson Harvard University James O. Gibson (Retired) Center for the Study of Social Policy :8 :8 :8 Robert Greenstein Iris J. Lav Executive Director Deputy Director Author Nicholas Johnson is a senior policy analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ State Fiscal Project. He has authored several reports on tax relief for low-income families and other state budget and tax issues. December 2001 Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 820 First Street, N.E., Suite 510 Washington, DC 20002 (202) 408-1080 E-mail:
[email protected] Web: www.centeronbudget.org Acknowledgments This report builds on previous reports by the same name issued in 1992, 1996, and 1999 and thus owes a debt to the authors of those reports, including Robert Greenstein, Frederick Hutchison, Ed Lazere, and Iris J.