RALEIGH - A bill that will allow the earned income tax credit to expire in 2013 is headed to the the governor. The estimated savings from the expiration is estimated to be $300 million per year. The legislation lowers the state’s tax break slightly for the 2013 tax year because the federal tax credit rose.

Rep. Garland Pierce, the chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, said the expiration is another example of the Republican majority's war on the poor. He said the elimination of the earned income tax credit coupled with reduced unemployment benefits, the refusal to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and a bill that would require photo ID at the polls are fundamentally wrong.

Pierce stopped short of suggesting the Republican cuts are racially tinged.