March 19, 2006
Baton Rouge, LA

Early in my Presidency, I doubled the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for working families with incomes of $30,000 or less. I’m very proud of this accomplishment, because it helped move over four million people out of poverty and into the middle class.

This year, workers earning less than about $35,000 (about $37,000 for married joint filers) could get as much as $4,400 in EITC, depending on their incomes and on how many eligible children they have. It’s a great program, but too many low-income families don’t know about it. As much as $12.7 billion dollars in EITC went unclaimed in 2004. For many poor working families, that’s like tearing up their paychecks, so it’s very important that we raise awareness about the program. That’s why my Foundation is partnering with ACORN and Operation HOPE on an Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Campaign, which is providing mobile units in 10 cities to provide EITC screening, free tax preparation services, and

Credit: Clinton Foundation With Marthella Johnson, an ACORN tax preparer

financial literacy education for Katrina survivors. The EITC can make a tremendous difference for a low-income family, and we have to do everything we can to make sure that the people who would most benefit from the EITC have access to it.

Yesterday I visited a tax preparation center for people affected by Hurricane Katrina at the Promise Land Church in Little Rock. I met with Katrina survivors filing their taxes and claiming their EITC, ACORN staff, and volunteers from the IRS.

With Mr. Green, a Katrina survivor from Louisiana who sold art prior to the hurricane, but lost all of his work in the devastation. He's trying to get re-established and came to the EITC event in Little Rock to get information about the tax credit

This afternoon I was in the Forest Heights neighborhood of Gulfport, Mississippi, which was hit hard by the hurricane. Operation HOPE sponsored a terrific program here called the “Day of Empowerment.” They set up three big tents, and in each tent they provided an important service. One tent offered free EITC screening and tax filing from H&R Block volunteers, another provided financial counseling and economic literacy training for adults, and the third taught the basics of financial literacy to children, so that they will be prepared to manage their finances when they grow up. It was inspiring to see so many Americans working to build a better future for people who have recently been through such adversity. It’s amazing how much good just one dedicated person can do for others, and I’m sure the volunteer tax preparers who were able to get EITC money for the people of Forest Heights and the ACORN workers who found homes and jobs for Katrina survivors would agree.

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