What’s left? California’s stimulus

The California Asset Building Program released a report on the federal Earned Income Tax Credit’s impact on the California economy yesterday in Sacramento, and let’s just say that these bucks have a lot of bang.

The event itself, which began with impassioned remarks from Senators Carol Liu and Gilbert Cedillo, brought the program’s Anne Stuhdreher together with the report authors, tax prep coordinators, and the director of programs for First Lady Maria Shriver’s WE Connect campaign, and was attended by more than 100 staff and EITC advocates from across the state.

The report, Left on the table: Unclaimed Earned Income Tax Credits Cost California’s Economy and Low-income Residents $1 Billion Annually , finds California will miss out on more than a billion dollars in economic activity and thousands of jobs that could have been generated by the EITC. This is because an estimated 800,000 eligible Californians will neglect to claim over $1.2 billion in EITC dollars this tax season.

Governor Schwarzenneger rightly said that “these dollars belong in our local and state economy and not in Washington.” And the report breaks it down in just that way- giving the credit’s economic impact in every county in the state and six of its most affected cities.

California already benefits greatly from EITC claims and the resulting economic activity. The report estimates that the EITC refunds likely to be claimed this tax season total $5 billion- more than the combined incomes of all the State’s home health care workers and electricians in 2008 – but this amount could be even higher, if the stimulus that working families have earned were being claimed by everyone eligible.

As Anne Stuhldreher writes, this credit is for everyone- the bleeding hearts and the bottom-liners (and it’s literally for more people than ever, too- EITC thresholds and credit amounts have been increased as part of ARRA) and everyone should support working people claiming their due. She advises, “Chambers of commerce should sound the alarm to their members. Businesses can tell their employees about nearby free tax-preparation services. Retailers can hand out information in checkout lines. And media of all types – especially Spanish-language stations – should run public service announcements on heavy rotation.”

The program’s Olivia Calderon spoke last night with CBS news in a short and informative piece about the report, and she’s speaking with an increasing number of Spanish-language outlets. The bang of this report should be felt around the state- so that the bucks can hopefully do the same.