Lawmakers spent big this year to help Hawaiʻi families ‘pushed over the edge’

Connecting families to social services is critical, as pandemic-era supports come to an end.

Lawmakers used the budget surplus to make the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit for working families permanent, a move that Urosevich calls “a game changer” because it puts money directly into families’ pockets. 

Nearly 100,000 families in Hawaiʻi will be eligible for the credit. But at an average value of $424 a year, it does little to offset the loss of the temporary federal Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit, which gave parents between $250 and $300 a month per child last year. The measure lifted millions out of poverty nationwide before it ended in December of 2021. 

Urosevich is hopeful that lawmakers will build on the tax credit—and also reexamine proposals that failed this year like eliminating the general excise tax on diapers—moving forward. 

“The pandemic shined a light on our safety net gaps and so that’s front and center I think on people’s minds,” Urosevich said. “You start to see where families are falling through the cracks.”