Poor families need to know about federal tax credit.

• Position: On First Reading

April 15. That date, dreaded by so many American taxpayers, represents an opportunity for low income working families.

The long-standing federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) puts cash into the hands of working poor families, who normally don't file tax returns because they don't have tax liability.

To get the cash, these families have to file returns.

Nationally, the federal EITC delivered $31 billion to lower income workers in 2000 and helped lift more working families out of poverty than any other federal program. The EITC also complements the "work first" message of welfare reform by providing financial stability for families moving from welfare to work. The program reaches about 80 percent of those eligible, but in some states the percentage is much lower. State outreach is critical to help families realize they are eligible and should file returns to get this federal money.

To build on the federal credit, 15 states have established their own EITC. In New York, Senator Ray Meier, who along with Senator Stephen Saland pushed for the credit, says the EITC is an important means of reducing poverty and ensuring that the benefits of work surpass the benefits of public assistance."

A recent Brookings Institution study looked at the use of the EITC in 27 urban and rural sites and found that it boosted working family incomes an average of $1,700. And since the...