Granholm Signs Bill Establishing Tax Credit for Michigan Workers .(MP3- 3MB)

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Michigan’s lowest wage earners will have up to $880 more in their pocket thanks to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) legislation that I recently signed. That’s $880 to help pay for education, health care, insurance, home heating costs, or whatever else families need.

More than 660,000 Michigan families earning below $35,000 each year already qualify for a federal tax credit worth up to $4,700 depending on the size of their family. Like the federal credit, Senate Bill 453 will help Michigan’s working families keep more of what they earn.

Families qualifying for the federal EITC will be eligible for a Michigan EITC equaling 10 percent of the federal credit on their 2007 taxes. The credit will increase to an amount equaling 20 percent of their federal credit in the following year. This will result in millions of additional dollars in disposable income for working families each year.

My administration has taken a number of additional steps over the last month to help protect Michigan families and their pocketbooks, such as the new pilot program to make home and auto insurance available at lower rates to residents in Metro Detroit and Genesee County. And I recently sent a letter to the White House urging President Bush to reconsider his decision to exclude Michigan from receiving additional funding for home heating assistance.

Reducing the cost of insurance, fighting for our fair share of federal assistance for home heating, creating a tax credit to help working families – it’s all part of my plan to help families work and thrive here in Michigan - especially during time of economic challenge. Click here to read more.

Visit Michigan's EITC website

The Governor’s weekly radio address is released each Friday at 10:00 a.m. and may be heard on broadcast stations across the state through an affiliation with the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. The address will also be available on the Governor’s Website on Mondays as a podcast for general distribution to personal MP3 players and home computers.