The earned income tax credit is essentially a tax credit for low income parents. It isn't billed that way and it isn't technically limited to them, but if you l

The earned income tax credit is essentially a tax credit for low income parents. It isn't billed that way and it isn't technically limited to them, but if you look at the formula, for any tax filer with no children the maximum credit is $506. That's about twenty five cents an hour for a 2000 hour work year, 12.5 for a 4000 hour work year (i.e. for a two earner household). This peak credit is reached at $6,610-$8,270 for a single filer and $6,610-$13,820 for a married couple. It is phased out to zero by $14,880 and $20,430 respectively. Now maybe when you say we need to make the EITC much more generous you include as part of that fundamentally changing the nature of the program. But it is worth noting what it is and isn't today. And that's a refundable child tax credit, not a general negative income tax program.