The Sept. 10 opinion piece by Chad Higgins of the Maine Children’s Alliance board (“Maine Voices: If Congress allows working-family tax credits to expire, kids will suffer”) neglects to be fully honest with the readers.

Take: “These pro-work tax credits allow millions of hardworking Americans to keep more of what they earn.”

He fails to note this information from the Tax Policy Center: “Unlike most other tax credits for individuals, the earned income credit is refundable. That is, if the earned income credit exceeds the taxpayer’s tax liability, the Internal Revenue Service will refund the difference.”

So people who file for the Earned Income Tax Credit receive more money back from the government than they had paid for that year.

Since the government does not earn money, other than what it gets or takes from taxpayers, the EITC refunds mean that most real taxpayers will not receive a refund (or they’ll get less of a refund, if eligible). The difference goes to the “refund” or makeup funds for EITC filers.

Also, according to the IRS: “Investment income must be no more than $3,350 for the year” for people who file for the EITC.

This is income, not the principal invested. So how much income has your savings made last year? At 1 percent, around $335,000 would be allowed.

With the expansion of eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit to people in same-sex marriages, the refunds to real taxpayers will be less again. Taxes have to go up or cuts must be made to pay for this socialist program.

The author’s touchy-feely thoughts aside, there must be reforms to the EITC.

Robert Klowas

Scarborough

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