The Benefits of the EITC Tax

Pediatrician and social entrepreneur Lucy Marcil delivers a talk on child healthcare that may be vital to the survival of children from lower-income families. With her energetic delivery, the speaker gives a solution to aid kids "from the adversity they face growing up with economic stress and poverty." Her approach calls for a complete reimagination of what a doctor's visit looks like and has proven to produce striking outcomes for the first three years of its operation.

In the context of the United States, the talk on child healthcare reveals that "the earned income tax credit, or EITC, is the best poverty prescription." Yet, this benefit is unknown to 60% of the families that Lucy Marcil has professionally helped to a better and healthier life. The EITC provides the average mom with up to three thousand dollars annually. This money can be used for funding the educational pursuits of children, sustaining their health, paying for food and more.

Lucy Marcil starts an organization called StreetCred to advocate for tax preparation in clinics that mainly serve children. The process of joining the community is fairly simple. Hospitals need to register as a tax-preparation site and everyone who is associated with the medical institution can volunteer as a tax preparer after only one IRS exam. The contact between families and volunteers can be established while patients wait to see a doctor. The reach has proven to be sizable as 90% of US children go to a clinic at least once annually.

In its first two years, StreetCred has returned $1.6 million USD to 750 families in Boston. In its third year, the service expands to nine sites in four states, which gives Lucy Marcil's talk on child healthcare a hopeful note for the future.