Poverty is Like Swiss Cheese

If tax policy makes your eyes glaze over, help has arrived. In this month’s Breadcast, Bread policy analyst Rachel Black demystifies the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) -- it’s the largest anti-poverty program in the country, and it just happens to be administered through the tax code.

The EITC is a refundable tax credit that gives working families resources they can use to meet whatever need they’re facing, whether it’s a car repair, medical bills, or childcare costs. The average EITC benefit a working family receives is $2,500 a year, which may not sound like a lot, but it makes a big impact.

“I’ve heard it said that poverty is like walking over a slice of Swiss cheese,” Black says. “Unexpected expenses come up, and you can fall through one of those holes.”

Bread’s current Offering of Letters campaign urges Congress to protect and strengthen the EITC and the Child Tax Credit.

“To address hunger in the long term, we have to address the poverty that causes hunger,” Black says. “Tax policies that support families who work are an important way of doing this.”

The Breadcast also contains music from Tiffany Thompson, and a legislative update from Monica Mills, Bread’s director of government relations, about the issues Congress will face this month.