I raised my son on my own. He's starting his junior year at Harvard on a full scholarship! The EITC helped me to maintain my house, to pay for repairs, buy fuel to stay warm, help keep my car on the road so I could work and drive my son to school and community events. All this allowed me to provide a stable home life for my son while he was growing up. This stability freed him up to be a kid so he could do well in school. He's a smart kid and earned his way in to the best college in the country if not the world. The EITC helped me afford a home to bring my son up in. Sandra

We used the EITC and the Child Tax Credit when my husband was serving in the United States Air Force and after he left the military and we were both working full time jobs in the civilian job market. We used the money to pay our mortgage and bills. Our son's daycare was very expensive and living in Arizona our monthly electric bill was sky high. We live a very modest life, well within our means. Even so the EITC and Child Tax Credit was something we really depended and counted on. When my husband was enlisted money was tight. He was serving his country and making pennies! I was a stay-at-home mom. When our son was a newborn, we qualified for WIC. We'd use up all the WIC formula before the month was over and have to buy more. People don't realize how little our Armed Forces earn each year—it's appalling. The men and women putting their lives on the line every day, defending our country, are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Many of them (especially the ones with families) qualify for food stamps and WIC. These tax credits helped us make ends meet and we were extremely grateful they were available to us. Eliminating these tax credits would hurt so many hardworking people and their families. Lynda

As a single parent, working to make a small business successful in a struggling economy, I can sincerely say that the EITC and CTC are critical to me and my family. Without these tax breaks, I would be losing several thousand much needed dollars each year. What amounts to nothing more than another vacation or shopping spree for the wealthy or a tiny business expense to a big corporation, is literally food, childcare and other necessities for my child! We really can't live without these. These ‘working-class’ tax credits make fiscal sense in supporting those in the middle-class and low-income tax brackets. In turn, the money that these families save in the EITC and CTC is rolled right back into supporting their local economy. Ann

When the economy tanked, we lost our taxi company. My husband was unemployed, and I went to work for $12/hr. This became even less, when I was partially laid off—two winters in a row! Our family of four was hard-pressed even to pay the bills, much less the mortgage. We finally broke down and applied for SNAP, unemployment, and other help, to make it through. When tax time came around, we found out that since we had not claimed the EITC and Child Tax Credit before, we were able to get two years' worth of the tax credit, just in the nick of time, because we were about to lose our house due to missed mortgage payments. From that day forward, I used this strategy to make sure that our payments are on time, and my kids have a roof over their heads: we save our tax return money—ALL of it—and use it strictly to pay the mortgage. Five years later, and we have not missed a single payment! In the meantime, our economic situation has gotten better. This year, my husband was able to find work (part-time), and I've gotten a raise. But without the EITC and Child Tax Credits, we would be in a very different situation. It gave us the ability to pick up the pieces, and pull ourselves up. Heather

I'm a single mother of two, and have a permanent, half-time, represented job at my local county library. Although I would love to have a full-time job, management cites 'business needs' as their reason to keep many of us from working full-time. I work as many extra hours as I can, but with the limited extra hours available, and the extra out-of-pocket costs due to being half-time, my paycheck is under the federal poverty level for a family of three. The EITC allows my family to afford not just the necessities of life, but a few ‘perks’ as well, like eating fresh fruit and vegetables, heating our house, and owning a 20-year old car! Can you imagine what our lives would be like without it? Melissa

Every year we look forward to doing our taxes because it allows us to give our children the opportunity for something new. We cannot afford very many Christmas presents at Christmas so with our return, which is only possible because of the children, we buy them something that they have wanted all year. With the rest of the money we fix our car, repair the house and make things better for our children. Honestly it's the only way we make it through the year. We struggle every week to provide but we live paycheck-to-paycheck and still run out of money for food. We don't live an extravagant lifestyle. It's just never enough. Christa

I am a single mother of an 8-year-old. I have a Master's Degree and have a full-time teaching job. I do not receive any child support so all the financials are my responsibility. I have been fortunate that I live in a state where I don't have to worry about paying for my daughter's health insurance but I teach in a parochial school, so my paycheck is less than half of what I would be earning in a public school. The EITC is a Godsend. I keep a running list during the year of what I do with the money; I stock up on toiletries mostly— they can get very costly after a while! I also take care of any medical bills of my own that I've been making payments on and then pay off the rest of my daughter's school tuition so it's not deducted from my paycheck for the rest of the 6 months (a condition of my employment is that her enrollment at that school is required). It's also nice to have some cushion money, in case something happens to my car or my daughter, or so I can enjoy a dinner out and a movie every once in awhile. I am forever grateful for that money when it comes. Megan

In late 2013 our car died. It was the sole source of transportation for my wife to get to her job 45 minutes away from home, as well as for me to get to regular doctor appointments for me and our daughters. Melissa was able to take the bus to work, but we had to rely on friends and family to get us to the medical appointments and to buy groceries. We were able to use the EITC in early 2014 to buy a good reliable car without having a payment we would have found it very difficult to make. Once we had a car, my wife's commute time was reduced so that she could fit in classes at the Community College. Now she is using this year's EITC to help cover college costs. We also used part of our EITC to purchase clothes and shoes for our daughters. Julie

“As a single mom and a disabled veteran, I know first hand how important the Earned Income Tax Credit was to us. We needed every penny we could get from our tax return. We were able to buy our first computer because of the EITC. There was never enough to do something like that in our normal paycheck life. My kids used the heck out of that thing and straight A's as a result of the ease of research really made my day. Year after year something big that we really needed came as a result of getting the EITC. Kristiana

I am the single mother of four girls, three of whom are adopted. My former partner left the country and has never paid child support. I work 30 hours for an agency and 15 hours a week for my own small business. We still don't get by without the help of Medicaid, tax supports, and free/reduced price lunch. I am frugal but live in a house that needs attention! Here is how I spent my tax refund last year: I immediately registered the kids for Girl Scout day camp and Y day camp—great experiences which double as my child care during summer months. My mother decided to postpone retirement this year, so she will not be a resource to us for another summer. I don't know how else to pay for summer care unless the EITC and Child Tax Credit remains the same or increases. Sarah

My son has multiple special needs including Tourette's Syndrome, OCD, ADHD, sensory processing disorder, and speech and learning differences. My daughter has a significant speech delay. There are so many things that help them but are not considered medical, so not paid for by medical insurance. Books of relaxation scripts I read to my son, picture books that inspire my daughter to talk more, toys that they use for dramatic play to practice their social speech, various behavior management tools, a supplement that has helped my son with his tics. They all seem obvious, something any good mom would provide. And a couple years ago, when we had a better income, we did. But now that we're barely getting by, it's impossible to come up with the money in our regular budget. Now every year I can't wait for our tax return! We use some of the money from the EITC and Child Tax Credit to pay off debt or take care of needed repairs, but some of the money is set aside to provide these ‘extras’ for my children. My kids are as special and important to me as other kids are to moms who have lots of money. I want to make sure that I give my children the best chance at a bright future, even though we're currently struggling financially. I'm grateful for the tax credits that let me do this for them in a small, but crucial, way. Robin