Photo Courtesy of Caroline Willis/Mayoral Photography Office
“The Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit are lifelines to so many New Yorkers,” said Mayor Adams.
By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams on Friday was joined by labor leaders, other elected officials, and working New Yorkers to rally state lawmakers to double down on their support for the Child Tax Credit and a further expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) — a critical initiative that Adams secured in last year’s budget.
Thanks to that expansion, a single parent with one child with an income of $14,750 saw their tax benefit increase from $181 to $905 — a 400 percent increase. A married couple with two children and an income of $25,000 saw their City benefit increase from $299 to $897 under the city payment — a 200-percent increase.
At Friday’s rally, Adams focused on state legislation that would expand eligibility for these vital tax credits to individuals with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN), as opposed to just those with Social Security numbers. Currently, a Social Security number is required to claim the EITC at the federal, state, and city level. This requirement excludes hundreds of thousands of hardworking, immigrant New Yorkers, preventing them from receiving as much as $2,000 in tax credits. In New York City, 78 percent of undocumented immigrants were in the labor force as of 2017, with a median annual income of $25,300.
“The Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit are lifelines to so many New Yorkers,” said Adams. “That’s why we were proud to fight alongside our colleagues in Albany last year to push for an expansion of the EITC for the first time in 20 years and to get more funding for child care. And we’re not stopping there — the ‘Working People’s Agenda’ that we’re rallying for today will bring fairer wages, better benefits, and a better quality of life to working New Yorkers.”
Adams’ ‘Working People’s Agenda’ focuses on delivering jobs, safety, housing, and care to working New Yorkers. Other initiatives within this agenda include:
- Helping 36,000 economically disadvantaged workers and residents of high-poverty communities — including 8,000 construction workers and 28,000 service contract workers — get connected to good jobs every year by working with city partners in Albany to finally empower New York City to require companies with city contracts to hire local community members.
- Doubling the city’s current rate of contracting with minority- and women-owned business enterprises (M/WBEs), and awarding $25 billion in contracts to M/WBEs over the next four years and $60 billion over the next eight years.
“The State and City have a responsibility to uplift working New Yorkers,” said City Council Majority Whip Selvena N. Brooks-Powers. “By expanding and broadening access to the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, we can support New York’s workers and their families. I commend the mayor for putting forward his Working People’s Agenda, and I stand with colleagues in government and union leaders to call for tax relief and job support for workers, as well as an increase in the city’s utilization of minority- and women-owned business enterprises.”
