<P> For tax year 2013, the maximum EITC benefit for a single person or couple filing without qualifying children is $487 . The maximum EITC with one qualifying child is $3,250, with two children, it is $5,372, and with three or more qualifying children, it is $6,044 . These amounts are indexed annually for inflation . </P> <P> The earned income tax credit has been part of political debates in the United States regarding whether raising the minimum wage or increasing EITC is a better idea . In a random survey of 568 members of the American Economic Association in 2011, roughly 60% of economists agreed (31.7%) or agreed with provisos (30.8%) that the Earned Income Tax Credit program should be expanded . </P> <P> Enacted in 1975, the initially modest EIC has been expanded by tax legislation on a number of occasions, including the widely publicized Tax Reform Act of 1986, and was further expanded in 1990, 1993, 2001, and 2009, regardless of whether the act in general raised taxes (1990, 1993), lowered taxes (2001), or eliminated other deductions and credits (1986). Today, the EITC is one of the largest anti-poverty tools in the United States . Most income measures, including the poverty rate, do not account for the credit . </P> <P> A qualifying child can be a person's daughter, son, stepchild, or any further descendant (such as grandchild, great grandchild, etc .) or a person's brother, sister, half sister, half brother, stepbrother, stepsister, or any further descendant (such as niece, nephew, great - nephew, great - great - niece, etc .). A qualifying child can also be in the process of being adopted provided he or she has been lawfully placed . Foster children also count provided either the child has been officially placed or is a member of one's extended family . A younger single parent cannot claim EIC if he or she is also claimable as a qualifying child of their parent or another older relative, which can happen in some extended family situations . This restriction does not apply to a married couple who is claiming EIC with a child, even if one or both spouses are under the age of 19 . </P>

When did the earned income tax credit start