Legislature OKs tax break for low-income residents
by JOHN HILL - Shreveport Times (excerpt)

Those working poor who qualify for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit would get a 3.5 percent increase from the state, under Senate Bill 341 by Sen. Lydia Jackson, D-Shreveport, that the Senate voted Tuesday to send to the governor.

To qualify, lower income wage earners must file for a refund of their withholding taxes. Whatever their refund and their federal bonus total, the state would kick it 3.5 percent more.

Although the benefit varies by family size, it applies generally to those making less than $38,000, growing as income drops, according to the bill's prime sponsor, the Louisiana Association of Non-Profit Organizations.

Some 509,000 of Louisiana's 1.8 million tax filers, or 29 percent, qualify for the credit, which carries an overall price tag of $40 million.