A Cheap Way to Beat Poverty

The earned income tax credit is highly effective and should be expanded.

Bloomberg Opinion
Oct 1, 2018 · 4 min read
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Roxanna Villa, 25, with daughter and son. She was able to buy the house due to the earned income tax credit, a lucrative break for the working poor. Photo: Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

By Noah Smith

The earned income tax credit isn’t a policy that arouses many passions, on either side of the political divide. Unlike the $15 minimum wage or Medicare for All, it doesn’t have a popular grassroots campaign behind it. Unlike a federal job guarantee or free…

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