SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Five public policy groups gathered today to urge lawmakers to quadruple Illinois’ Earned Income Tax Credit to help low-income families keep more money in their pockets.

The EITC is a federal program that gives families earning up to about $42,000 a tax credit on a sliding scale.  Families earning the least get the maximum credit (about $4,800) and families earning more get a smaller one.

States can choose to give an EITC at the state level and can set their own rates.  In Illinois, residents can get up to 5 percent of the federal credit from the state, which means the lowest earning families would get about $240.

The groups want to raise the credit to 20 percent, which they say would put Illinois’ percentage about mid-level compared to the other 25 states offering the credit. 

Illinois’ EITC is currently the second-lowest in the nation.  Some states offer credits as high as 40 percent.

The groups, including Voices for Illinois Children, the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and Protestants for the Common Good, are part of a larger Make Work Pay campaign advocating a variety of tax reforms. 

They say the current tax credit costs the state just under $90 million.  Increasing the tax credit would cost an additional $350 million, they estimate.

In a year when the state faces a $12.6 billion budget shortfall, increasing the credit is likely to be a hard sell to lawmakers trying to reign in spending. 

Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed tripling the personal tax exemption from $2,000 per person to $6,000 to ease the tax burden on lower-income residents.  The exemption is the amount of money an individual can deduct from their taxable income.

Quinn also proposed raising the state income tax from 3 percent to 4.5 percent.