A state Earned Income Tax Credit for North Carolina is an old idea that progressives just won’t let die.
But a recent report by the National Taxpayer Advocate show that the national program is rife with improper payments.
A state EITC, by the estimates of advocates, would distribute credits that average of $110 per household per year – about $9 a month.
That amount not only would not lift anybody out of poverty, but it would increase administrative costs in the state department of revenue.
This report showed that “The IRS estimates that 25 percent of the claimed EITC credits it allowed in fiscal year (FY) 2018 were improper payments.” Improper payments means either payments going to people not actually eligible, or payments larger than what the recipients should have received.
In other words, one out of every four dollars of EITC payments should not have been made. Nationally, the improper payments amounted to more than $16 billion.
Why would NC want to resurrect such a corrupt, inefficient program that does nothing to mitigate poverty that’s going to waste millions of taxpayer dollars?
