Refundable tax credits are an increasingly important way that public policies deliver resources to families and individuals with low incomes to help them meet basic needs and invest in their futures. Data highlighted here focus on both refundable federal tax credits – the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) – and refundable state tax credits – the CalEITC and California Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC).
Federal data presented here reflect tax year 2020, when the structure of the federal EITC and ACTC was similar to the current credit design (i.e., without the pandemic-era tax credit expansions in place for tax year 2021). State data reflect tax year 2021.
A note about comparing county data points to each other, and to statewide data points: California’s 58 counties vary substantially in resident demographics, characteristics of local economies, tax base, community-based organization capacity, and local government administrative capacity. All of these factors can contribute to differences in outcomes across the indicators shown in the dashboard.
