By Anna Gustafson for the Pennsylvania Independent.
Broadcast version by Danielle Smith for Keystone State News Connection reporting for the Pennsylvania Independent-Public News Service Collaboration
Gov. Josh Shapiro is encouraging residents to claim a new state tax credit that aims to bring financial relief to close to 1 million people in the commonwealth as families struggle with rising prices.
So far only about 490,000 out of roughly 940,000 eligible Pennsylvanians have claimed the Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit, with the April 15 tax deadline on the horizon, Shapiro said during a press conference in Allegheny County on March 30. Eligible residents are able to deduct up to $805 off their state taxes.
Lawmakers included the new tax credit in the 2025-26 budget signed by Shapiro in November. The additional funding for Pennsylvanians comes as state Democratic leaders try to offset some of the financial burdens residents face as a result of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the war in Iran.
“Look, I recognize whether it’s going to the gas pump or whether it’s our farmers trying to operate their farms, or whether it’s something you’re just buying online for your kid, things cost more because of federal policies, because of the tariffs and because of this war of choice that we should have never gotten into,” Shapiro said. “Things are going up in cost, and I understand how that adds a burden on Pennsylvanians. We are trying to do everything we can at the state level to mitigate the pain that’s coming from those federal decisions.”
The state tax credit is modeled after the federal earned income tax credit, which provides a tax break for low- and moderate-income families. Any Pennsylvanian who qualifies for the earned income tax credit is able to receive the state credit. To see if you qualify for the new state tax credit and how much of a deduction you would receive, you can use an online calculator from the state Department of Revenue.
State Rep. Brandon Markosek, a Democrat who represents part of Allegheny County, said the additional funds from the tax credit are allowing one of his constituents to pay for a speech therapist for her son, who, like Markosek, talks with a stutter.
“In my district office not too long ago, a woman came in with her two children, and her one child sounded just like me, and he had a stutter,” Markosek said at Monday’s press conference. “She worked two jobs, and she looked at me and she said, ‘I do not have the funds to send my child to go see a speech therapist.’ And that’s something that hit me personally. … When I go to Harrisburg and we’re putting up votes, they just aren’t votes. They’re actually tangible votes that are actually supporting people and supporting families.”
State House Speaker Joanna McClinton, who championed the Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit, said the extra state dollars come at a time when residents’ lives are becoming increasingly expensive.
“We’re in a time where our economy has just really tanked under this administration — all the crazy tariffs, the unlawful, unconstitutional war,” McClinton said during a March 28 online conversation organized by Commonwealth Communications.
“The truth of the matter is, whether you’re just going to the gas pump or whether you’re trying to get your transit pass, wherever you live, everything has gone up,” McClinton said. “Our expenses keep going up, yet what we make hasn’t moved.”
The tax credit, McClinton said, brings some financial comfort in a time of stress for many families.
“What we know is that when people are able to have some cushion, it just gives you some breathing room and a chance to just exhale a sigh of relief,” the speaker said.
Stephanie Ward, a health care worker in Philadelphia and a single mother of three children, told Shapiro during a March 27 press conference that the tax credit has helped her and her family after she was injured at the end of 2025.
“I’ve been working in health care for 17 years. Even though I work, I still struggle to take care of my family, as many Philadelphians do, and Pennsylvanians do, due to inflation,” Ward said.
“It has helped my family out immensely, and I am very grateful, and I’m very sure it has helped out many families in Philadelphia and throughout Pennsylvania that live paycheck to paycheck, that struggle to pay their mortgage or their rent or to feed their families or to put clothes on their backs and the backs of themselves and their children,” she said. “The tax credit has truly been a blessing and a tremendous, great help. Personally, I had just gotten injured towards the end of the year 2025. I was working, and I had gotten injured, and it has caused me and my family to be back in bills. I started receiving shut-off notices.”
To learn more about claiming the Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit, visit the state Department of Revenue’s website.
Anna Gustafson wrote this article for the Pennsylvania Independent.
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