Oregon and Portland Metro Area Profiles of Taxpayers Eligible for the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit.

With earned income credits likely to be included in an Obama stimulus package, I thought this would be a good time to post a profile of Oregon and Portland Metro area taxpayers eligible for the federal earned income tax credit.

(People who know me know that I have said for more than a decade that, given the size of the EITC, it is as important as any rental housing subsidy program in increasing housing affordability by rewarding work and providing additional income to families with children).

[CASH Oregon is the Portland Metro group formed several years ago to help coordinate EITC outreach efforts. Their website is HERE.]

Data is from Brookings Institution, which made estimates using data from the 2007 American Community Survey.

I compiled a side by side PDF file with a table HERE showing Oregon and the Portland metro area; file also includes the Brookings profiles for Oregon and the Portland metro that I used to construct the side by side table. [Table comes first in the download, then the profiles].

Variables include number of children, adjusted gross income, education level, top 5 industry and jobs, race and ethnicity, amount of the EITC, age of tax filer, tenure of tax filer, and food stamp use of filer.

Oregon Highlights:

1. 298,000+ EITC eligible filers have a total household population of more than 816,000.
2. 57% of EITC eligible filers have an adjusted gross income of less than $15,000.
3. 32% of EITC eligible filers receive food stamps.
4. 38% of EITC eligible filers have two or more children.
5. 12% of EITC eligible filers are in the military.
6. 41% of EITC eligible filers would receive a credit of $2,000 or more.
7. Top 5 industry employers of EITC eligible filers are retail, health care, manufacturing, food service/accommodations, and construction.
8. 43% of EITC eligible filers have at least some college; 19% have an associate degree or higher.