During the pandemic, the tax code was altered to allow people to use their 2019 earnings rather than their 2020 earnings to claim earned income tax credit (EITC) checks. Some senators proposed to make this change to the “lookback rule” permanent. This would mean people would need to work only one out of the previous two years to claim the EITC, creating a perverse incentive that discourages work.

Congress should reject any proposals to change the lookback rule permanently and keep the policy of basing EITC amounts on earnings from the tax year.