Working Family Tax Credits Should Be Available to All Marylanders

Over the last year, Marylanders across the state have faced tremendous challenges because of the COVID-19 pandemic – from the serious illness or loss of a loved one to the loss of income that left too many wondering how to pay the next month’s rent or put food on the table.

Now, imagine facing these challenges without any of the economic supports available to most of us – no unemployment insurance, no food assistance from SNAP, no federal stimulus check. That is the reality for tens of thousands of Marylanders who are immigrants or are the children of immigrants.

Having a strong recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic requires ensuring all Marylanders who are struggling can get the support they need. In particular, we must address the fact that many immigrants have been left out of economic supports for far too long.

Last week, the Maryland General Assembly passed the RELIEF Act, which will provide more than $1 billion in economic support to low-income Maryland families, people who have recently been unemployed, and small businesses. However, like federal relief measures, this legislation left out tens of thousands of low-income immigrant taxpayers, people who use an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) rather than a Social Security number to file taxes.

Marylanders who file taxes with an ITIN work and pay federal and state taxes, but discriminatory federal rules exclude them from virtually all public assistance programs, including SNAP and Medicaid, even if they would otherwise qualify based on having a low income. When it comes to working family tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit, the entire household can be ineligible for this powerful poverty-reducing tax credit if one person has an ITIN, even if other members of the family are U.S. citizens.

This week, the General Assembly is considering additional emergency legislation that would ensure that all low-income Marylanders are eligible to receive the state EITC, regardless of their immigration status. Legislators should quickly pass this bill so all eligible families can receive this tax credit.

The reality is, immigration policies are complex. Taxpayers using an ITIN come from a wide variety of backgrounds and can be at various points in the lengthy U.S. immigration process. For example, a mother with two U.S.-born children, trying to get back on her feet and care for her kids after a divorce that left her immigration status in limbo, is not currently eligible for the EITC.

Ensuring that eligibility for the state EITC is based on income and Maryland residency, and not other factors could also bring in others who are excluded for other technical reasons.

Working family tax credits like the EITC have a long history of increasing economic security for low-income households. Getting a little more money back at tax time helps Marylanders meet their basic needs or cover larger one-time expenses, like car repairs or textbooks for school.

Because it reduces poverty, research also links the EITC to a wide range of benefits, particularly for children growing up in household who receive the EITC, including improved health and completing higher levels of education.

These economic supports are more critical than ever as Maryland families weather the storm created by COVID-19. Maryland should not continue upholding these discriminatory federal policies and should include all low-income Maryland taxpayers in these valuable economic supports.