Comptroller's office won't garnish tax refunds of low-income families this year

Roughly 41,000 Illinois households with family incomes low enough to qualify for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit will not have their unpaid traffic fines and parking tickets or outstanding court judgments withheld from their 2020 state income tax refunds.

For the last decade, the state comptroller's office has been empowered to "intercept" those outstanding fines and forward them to municipalities, just as it garnishees the wages of parents who fail to make child support payments.

But working families run by essential workers have borne the brunt of the pandemic. They're still struggling to pay for rent, groceries and health care after having their hours cut - if they're lucky enough to have jobs at all.

That's why Comptroller Susana Mendoza and Chicago Mayor Lightfoot decided to give those working families a break - by giving them their full state income tax refund.

• For the full story, visit chicago.suntimes.com.