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Warwick Sabin
Former Representative | Little Rock, AR

Working Families Opportunity Act

Idea Category: Equity & Opportunity, Jobs and Entrepreneurship, Smart Government

Problem

The Arkansas tax system places a far greater burden on low- and middle-income Arkansans than the top 20 percent of earners in the state. High-income Arkansans pay about six percent of their total income in state and local taxes while households at the state average and below pay nearly twice that amount.

Solution

Representative Warwick Sabin sponsored “The Working Families Opportunity Act,” a state version of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, which is the nation’s most effective tool for reducing poverty among working families and children. The WFOA provides a break to working Arkansans who currently shoulder a disproportionately high tax burden. WFOA credits help people make ends meet while working at low wages so that they can stay employed and take advantage of opportunities to make a better life for themselves and their families.

How to steal this idea:

Read about Representative Sabin’s efforts on the Working Families Opportunity Act in this op-ed he wrote: Rep. Warwick Sabin: In Support Of The Working Families Opportunities Act

See the legislation he sponsored in Arkansas here.

Learn about how other states are adopting and adapting the federal Earned Income Tax Credit at https://www.brookings.edu/blogs/the-avenue/posts/2015/07/29-states-eitc-local-need-holmes-berube

Visit and share the gallery of NewDEAL Challenge winners at governing.com/newdeal.