Senator McDonald Rivet asked and was granted unanimous consent to make a statement and moved that the statement be printed in the Journal.
The motion prevailed.
Senator McDonald Rivet’s statement is as follows:
I come today as a proud sponsor of Senate Bill No. 3, the working families tax credit, to increase a tax credit for the hard-working men and women in Michigan in the form of the earned income tax credit. In 2019, before the pandemic, almost 40 percent of us were unable to pay for basic needs like housing, child care, and transportation according to the United Way ALICE data. This is the case in every one of our districts. That number includes one million children who are growing up in households with limited opportunities and often going to bed hungry. It’s not an issue of working hard for a solid day’s wages. The reality is that Michigan has far too many low-paying jobs with almost 59 percent of them paying less than what it takes for a family of three to reach the middle class. It’s limiting our kids’ potential and part of the reason we are losing population as families leave our state for better opportunities and higher-paying jobs.
This bill would take the EITC from its current 6 percent and increase it to 30 percent of the federal credit. Additionally, it contains a provision that makes the increase retroactive to the calendar year 2022, giving working families the ability to take this credit in this year’s tax filing. In short, this puts money in the pockets of working families now, when they need it the most.
Decades, literally decades of research indicates that families mostly use the EITC to pay for necessities like repairing homes, maintaining vehicles that are needed to commute to work, and in some cases obtaining additional education or training to boost their employability and earning power. According to the CDC, this tax credit has kept more children living above the poverty level than any other program in our history. Most beneficiaries use the credit for less than two years.
It is important to note that over 220 organizations from every region in this state have signed on in support of Senate Bill No. 3. I ask you to join them in their support by voting “yes” on this bill today.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 13, entitled
A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled “Michigan election law,” by amending section 613a (MCL 168.613a), as amended by 2015 PA 1.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: