Institute for Research on Labor and Employment

In June 2015, California became the 26th state to pass its own Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The new credit, worth as much as $2,653 per year for families with low earned income, supplements the federal EITC. Families will start receiving the credit in 2016 on income they earned in 2015, and approximately 2 million residents are expected to benefit. The average qualifying household is expected to receive $460 per year, for a total cost to California of $380 million for tax year 2015.