When we do our taxes next year, will the EIC tax credit still be available?

I heard the govt is phasing out the EIC tax credit. When will this take place? Thanks|||I haven't heard that yet. I'm sure there are plots afoot to try to get rid of it. I'll have to go over my materials to find out for sure. But I'm SURE it will still be there, as long as you qualify....|||McCain's EIC proposal is to send the money out 12 monthly checks. While it reduces the money at tax time, it spreads the same amount out over the following year. Sort of the opposite of "Advance EIC" or 12 mini-rebates.





Obama's (and other elected officials and think tank) EIC proposals are HUGE.


1. Triple EIC for childless workers making minimum wage.


2. Double that again if a worker is paying child support.


3. Get more money if you have 3 children.


4. For married couples, optionally reduce the earned income of the 2nd earner by 1/2 before calculating the benefit.





McCain's plan tries to address the problem of the "lump sum" check that people get right now as opposed to higher pay. (If you get Advance EIC and you have a big jump in pay, you have to pay it back.)





Obama's plan tries to simultaneously address some of the fraud (if you could claim EIC for all of your children, people woudn't illegally loan them out; if you could more EIC with less income, more people might get married and admit they live together) as well as equate EIC with being the solution to people trying to live on minimum wage jobs.





Of course, neither address the issue of W-2s vs self-employment. W-2 income is pretty straight forward. You work, you get paid, you get a total at the end of the year. Self-employment income requires keeping records, deducting expenses and frankly there is a much over-reporting of income as there is under-reporting. I don't care what industry you are talking about--if the maximum income to get EIC with 2 kids is X, an awful lot of people manage to make exactly X.|||When hell freezes over. You would be hard pressed to find anyone in Congress who has anything bad to say about the EIC, so I doubt they'll be doing away with it anytime soon.