With the unveiling of Governor Brown’s May revision of his 2018-19 state budget, advocates of the working poor have something to celebrate. As part of the May revision, the Governor’s administration included provisions from two different bills authored in the Assembly, one of which is AB 2387 by Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes (D- San Bernardino) that would lower the age limit for eligible individuals for the California earned income tax credit (CalEITC).
Ultimately, the provisions adopted into the May revision open up eligibility for the CalEITC to any Californian who files taxes and is 18 years of age or older. AB 2387 would have dropped the age for anyone without a qualifying child to 18 and was set to be heard in the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee. Additional legislation, joint authored by Assemblymember Reyes, AB 2066 (Stone, Reyes) would additionally remove the age cap that currently exists at 65 while also opening up the credit to individuals with a federal individual taxpayer identification number or an ITIN.
While the ITIN’s language was not included into the provisions adopted under the May revise, there is still much to be happy about. “California needs to take bold steps to reduce the poverty rate of all working families and improve the economic outlook of its impoverished communities,” said Assemblymember Reyes. “The extension of this state tax credit to all working households in deep poverty is a key tool to reaching these goals.”
The California earned income tax credit is a state refundable income tax credit that is modeled after the federal earned income credit and based on a percentage of the taxpayers earned income. CalEITC was introduced in 2015 and expanded by the legislature in 2017.