Increasing Rhode Island’s Minimum Wage & EITC

The Governor’s FY17 Budget Article 13 increases the minimum wage to $10.10 next year and expands the state earned income tax credit from 12.5 percent to 15 percent of the federal credit (the Governor indicated an interest in further expanding the EITC pending available resources following the mid-year revenue forecast). Senator Goldin and Representative Slater have each introduced bills (S 2156 and H 7347) to further increase the EITC to 20 percent of the federal credit. Lawmakers have made real progress in these two areas over the past several years and future process to raise the labor and living standards of our workers going forward is well warranted.