As someone who served as a legislator in Pennsylvania’s General Assembly for nearly three decades, I was part of many conversations that revolved around our commonwealth’s tax system and the policies we could advance to help Pennsylvanians who are most in need. The challenge that has existed for more than a century is Pennsylvania maintains a uniform tax system, which is much different than the one utilized by the federal government.

This means the Pennsylvania Constitution cannot provide for tax benefits based on individual circumstances, such as marital status or age. That’s one of the reasons why we have a flat personal income tax (PIT) rate of 3.07% — and not a progressive rate like the federal government has.

Fortunately, there is one constitutional exception to the uniformity rule — and that is a special accommodation based on poverty. That’s the underlying authority that created the opening for Gov. Josh Shapiro and members of our General Assembly to push forward historic legislation as part of the 2025-26 budget that created the new Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit (WPTC).

Thanks to that bipartisan work, Pennsylvanians filing their returns this tax season can benefit from the WPTC. This is the first time in more than 50 years that the commonwealth has authorized a new tax benefit specifically for low-income Pennsylvanians. The WPTC is expected to deliver $193 million in tax relief to approximately 940,000 Pennsylvanians this tax season.

It’s easy to benefit from the credit. The WPTC is modeled after the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), meaning anyone who qualifies for the federal EITC will be automatically eligible for the state-level credit. The WPTC is equal to 10% of the federal EITC — meaning it can deliver up to $805 to hardworking Pennsylvanians — and this year it will be calculated automatically for taxpayers who file their federal and state tax returns at the same time.

For working families living paycheck to paycheck, this is meaningful relief that translates into groceries on the table, gas in the car and more money available to help cover their rising bills. Additionally, research has consistently shown children in families who receive the federal EITC are more likely to graduate from high school, go to college and be employed as adults.

Moreover, the credit has been proven to help low- income workers of all races and ethnicities, particularly in communities where Black and Hispanic workers are employed in lower-wage jobs due to long-standing inequities in the labor market.

The Department of Revenue is already working to administer the WPTC and help Pennsylvanians benefit from it. To help people see how much they might be entitled to, we have launched an online calculator on our website that helps estimate the WPTC.