SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued a proclamation declaring February 11-17, 2018 as “California Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Week.”
Governor Brown’s 2015-16 State Budget established the state’s first Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), designed to complement the federal EITC. California’s poorest working families are eligible for both state and federal EITC benefits. You can find out if you are eligible by visiting CalEITC4me.org.
The text of the proclamation is below:
PROCLAMATION
The Earned Income Tax Credit was put into effect in California in 2016 as a tool to help lift working families and their children out of poverty. Each year, almost 400,000 Californians earn refunds from the program, totaling nearly $200 million. This year, over a million more Californians will qualify for this tax credit because of higher income limits and the expansion of eligibility to the self-employed.
However, many Californians who are eligible for this tax credit do not apply. Every year, nearly $2 billion of combined state and federal tax credits is left on the table, unclaimed. This money is allocated for working, qualified individuals and families to put more cash in their pockets to support basic needs such as food, housing, health care, education and transportation.
This week, we recognize the importance of the Earned Income Tax Credit and encourage all Californians to spread the word about this important resource to those who need it the most. We want every hard-working California family who earned this money to apply for it.
You can find out if you are eligible by visiting CalEITC4me.org.
NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim February 11-17, 2018 as “California Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Week.”
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 9th day of February 2018.
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EDMUND G. BROWN JR.
Governor of California
ATTEST:
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ALEX PADILLA