My name is Arianna Caldwell, and I just turned 25 on Saturday. I have two kids – one four-year-old and one baby who just turned one, and I’m a single mom. The EITC has meant a lot to me in the past. In 2013, I had a job and my car recently broke down. It was going to be $2000 to fix my car, and I didn’t have that money. I was riding the bus. If I wasn’t able to pay to get my car fixed, I probably would have lost my job because my child got dropped off at preschool at 7:30 and my job started at 8:30. Using the bus, I wasn’t able to get to work on time. That year, my tax return came just in time, and I was able to pay for the necessary repairs to fix my car and keep my job.
I work two jobs right now. I just started my second job January 11th. I work at the hospital and I work for the state health department. I qualify for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, and so I’m also going to get the new Colorado state Earned Income Tax Credit this year. The state EITC means that I’ll get an additional 10% tax credit on top of what I receive from the federal EITC.