Earned Income Tax Credit in Cities

For more than 20 years, the Institute for Youth, Education and Families (YEF Institute) at the National League of Cities (NLC) has worked with municipal leaders to implement outreach campaigns to make sure that residents secure the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC). These campaigns have helped to raise awareness and encourage all eligible low-and moderate-income residents to claim EITC/CTC and receive a larger tax refund.

In 2023 qualifying families with three or more children can receive up to $6,935 via the EITC and $2,000 per child via the CTC. NLC supports municipal leaders in advancing their work to help more community residents claim these important financial boosts for families. As this work has grown, NLC’s YEF Institute has helped cities, towns, and villages develop new partnerships with existing local Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs to help residents across the country access these critical tax credits through a trusted source. This work keeps more money –more than $400 per tax return –in residents’ pockets and local economies. These collective efforts bring more than $60 billion in federal funds back to local economies annually.

An in-depth review of strategies to create a campaign around the EITC and other city-led opportunities around family financial stability can be found in the Maximizing the Earned Income Tax Credit in Your Community: A Toolkit for Municipal Leaders.

For EITC Awareness Day, NLC’s YEF Institute has created a toolkit, which includes a draft press release, a template for emails to partners, a template for a city proclamation, and sample tweets and Facebook posts to raise the visibility of the EITC within your community in preparation for EITC Awareness Day.

Comments or questions? Reach out to eofe@nlc.org for more information.