@BobKamman  My favorite political mantra these days (and it doesn’t matter which side of the fence you’re on) is “I’m right... you’re evil”

I like to think of the EiTC like this....  The idea, “let’s help single or low income working parents is basically good. But using the tax code to administer social programs just doesn’t work.

An attorney, S-Corp, MFJ, with 3 kids takes $250k w2. Pays f/t secretary  40k and p/t secretary 12k. P/t secretary is his wife. No problems.

Same scenario, but attorney and partner are not married. Both file single. She claims the kids and credits. 

probably a 15-20k swing in tax liability.  Anything wrong with this picture?