At United Way of Southern Nevada, we fight for women and men who, despite their hard work, can barely make ends meet. Many find it nearly impossible to cover essentials such as food, utility bills, and transportation to and from work.
One way we help struggling workers in our community is by connecting them with the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. It’s one of our most effective tools to keep people working and help them get a fair shot at a decent life. Through the leadership of the Nevada Free Taxes Coalition and its partners, just last year, 22,650 individuals and families earned the tax credit in Nevada, resulting in $25 million coming back to our community.
The tax credit is one of the most effective, bipartisan poverty mitigation programs in U.S. history. Yet it’s unavailable to many struggling workers. The program largely or entirely shuts out millions of working Americans who are not raising children. For example, noncustodial parents — those who do not have physical and/or legal custody by court order — who want to provide more support to their children receive little from the credit, and young childless workers aged 21-24 — many of whom are struggling to get a foothold in the workforce — are ineligible.
These workers represent the only group in our country that is taxed into or deeper into poverty. This situation makes it even harder for them to pay their bills and build the financial stability they need to succeed.
Our nation’s leaders can solve this problem.
Bipartisan proposals are pending in Congress to improve the tax credit for workers not raising children by lowering the eligibility age to 21 and increasing the maximum credit amount. Expanding the credit to include workers not raising children would give 107,000 more people in Nevada the financial stability to cover the basics, build a better future for themselves and their loved ones, and contribute more to our local economy. Studies show that the tax credit helps working people buy necessities like food and gas, which in turn helps our economy grow.
A stronger tax credit would reward the hard work of people across Nevada — young and old, male and female, from every background — who do essential, low-wage jobs in every sector to keep Nevada running.
So, as Sens. Dean Heller and Catherine Cortez Masto and Reps. Ruben Kihuen, Dina Titus and Jacky Rosen look for ways to help hardworking Americans in the next year, United Way encourages them to help improve our local economy by supporting the expansion of the tax creidt for workers not raising children. Nevada’s workers and working people across the country are counting on them.
Bob Morgan is president and CEO of United Way of Southern Nevada.