The credit began as part of a broader effort by Senator Russell Long (.) to derail congressional and presidential interest in a negative income tax (NIT) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The initial debates highlighted a tension that exists to this day. The attraction of the NIT was that—as a universal antipoverty program—it would provide a guaranteed minimal standard of living to all in an administratively efficient way (through the tax system) without having the notches and high cumulative marginal tax rates that characterize a patchwork system of narrower pro- grams. Senator Long’s primary objection to the NIT was that it provided its largest benefits to those.
