Josh Stein Spends First Week As Democratic Nominee Laying Out Plan To Cut Taxes For Working Families

North Carolinians Are Hearing About Josh Stein’s Plan To Put More Money In Their Pockets

North Carolinians across the state are hearing about Attorney General Josh Stein’s Working Families Tax Cut that would reinstate the State Earned Income Tax Credit and put more money in the pockets of more than two million North Carolinians. Josh is running for Governor to deliver on the promise of North Carolina – that if you work hard, where you come from will never limit how far you can go. As rising costs continue to put a strain on household budgets, Josh is committed to fighting to create economic opportunity for every person.

Read more about the Working Families’ Tax Cut below: 

High Point Enterprise: Stein starts main election push in High Point

• The Democratic nominee for governor made High Point the first stop of his general election campaign and called for a new refundable tax credit for families with children.

• Attorney General Josh Stein, who handily won the Democratic primary for governor Tuesday night, proposed what he is calling the Working Families’ Tax Cut, an earned income tax credit that he says would provide an average of $520 a year to 1 million North Carolina families, or nearly $1,500 to a family with three children.

• “This is a tax cut from the bottom up and the middle out, not from the top down,” he said in a press conference at Kid Appeal Learning Center in eastern High Point.
  
• As with the federal earned income tax credit, parents who are employed would qualify for the credit based on their income so that they get a higher credit as they earn more money, up to a certain amount. Eligibility would be capped at an annual income of $63,000.

• Stein painted the tax credit as a proposal that could garner broad bipartisan support because 29 other states, some led by Republicans and some by Democrats, have a similar one, and the federal tax credit was created under a Republican administration and expanded under both Democrats and Republicans.

• “They make sense and they are bipartisan,” he said.

• Stein said the proposed tax credit was just one of the proposals he backs to ensure the state has the workforce needed to sustain the industrial expansions announced in recent years, along with “fully funding” the state’s public school systems, raising teacher pay, investing in infrastructure such as high-speed broadband internet and continuing to expand career-and-technical-education programs and targeted workforce training programs.

Cardinal and Pine: Josh Stein proposes a ‘Working Families’ Tax Cut’

• Stein’s plan would reinstate the State Earned Income Tax Credit (SEITC), which was first enacted in 2007, before the Republican-controlled General Assembly voted to repeal it in 2013. The SEITC provided financial relief to those making up to around $50,000 per year. 

• According to Stein’s campaign, the average working family in the state could receive upwards of $520 back under his plan, while families with three children or more could see up to $1,486 back in their pockets.

• “North Carolina’s economy is strong and growing, but not everyone is benefiting from that growth – working people need more money in their pockets,” Stein said in a statement. “That’s why today I’m announcing my support for enacting a Working Families’ Tax Cut to help working people across North Carolina make ends meet and keep more of what they earn.” 

• When North Carolina ditched the SEITC over a decade ago, it became the first state to ever do so. This decision impacted around a million North Carolinians who at the time were claiming the tax credit.

Greensboro News & Record: Fresh off Super Tuesday win, Stein talks with High Point teachers about better pay

• Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein announced his plan to enact a tax cut for working-class families during an event on Thursday.
  
• Stein said if his proposal were enacted, millions across the state would benefit.

• Stein concluded Thursday’s event by calling for a tax cut that would benefit working families and would function as an earned income tax credit.

• North Carolina had previously enacted a version of an earned income tax credit in 2007. But in 2014, the Republican-led General Assembly repealed it.

• Stein’s proposal would set the credit at 20% of the federal earned income tax credit. Qualifying families could claim a maximum $1,486 depending on their income and number of dependents.

• “At 20% of the federal earned income tax credit, it would put $520 dollars on average back in the pockets of families here in North Carolina,” Stein claimed.

• During his appearance, Stein also called for more funding for North Carolina public schools, more competitive starting pay for teachers and improving infrastructure needs in the state.

• “These tax credits are just one tool in our broader strategy to bring economic opportunity to every family in the state,” Stein said.

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