WOTC Works — Don’t Let It Expire

Every once in a while, Washington gets something right.

Since 1996, the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) has quietly and consistently done what so many federal programs set out to do: help people find meaningful work in the private sector without creating new bureaucracy, duplicative programs, or long-term spending obligations.

WOTC is a tax credit to reward private sector employers who hire individuals who have historically faced barriers to employment — including veterans, people coming off welfare, and those reentering the workforce after incarceration. Employers do not get the credit unless someone is hired and stays on the job.

It’s common-sense policy — and it has delivered real results for decades:

• Over 40 million Americans have been transitioned from public assistance into the workforce because of the tax credit

• Because of the tax credit, taxpayers save more than $22 billion annually in reduced entitlement and workforce program spending

• In the last year alone, because of the tax credit, more than 190,000 veterans were hired with support from WOTC

With more than 13 million Americans missing from the labor force, including approximately 7 million men, and businesses still struggling to fill jobs, tools like WOTC are more important than ever. It is one of the most successful federal initiatives that encourages work, strengthens communities, and delivers measurable returns for both the private sector and the taxpayer.

Yet despite its track record, WOTC wasn’t included in the latest draft of the Trump Administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB). That’s a missed opportunity.

CAMI supports making WOTC part of the OBBB. Not because it checks an ideological box, but because it is a federal program that has consistently delivered on its promise.

Good policy doesn’t need a rebrand. It just needs to be renewed.

Congress got this one right the first time. Now they need to renew it again.