OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington lawmakers have approved funding for the Working Families Tax Credit – more than a dozen years after it was initially passed.

Modeled after the Earned Income Tax Credit, the bill will provide an estimated 420,000 households with tax rebates beginning in 2023.

Emily Vyhnanek with Washington State Budget and Policy Center says a coalition of groups has worked to push this policy through.

Vyhnanek also notes the program reaches more people than the Earned Income Credit including undocumented citizens and domestic violence survivors who use identification besides Social Security.

She says the bill is important because it rejects past approaches to economic downturns.

Nearly four dozen groups spanning a range of interests have supported this program, which received near-unanimous legislative approval.