The American working class lost a shocking amount of wealth in recent decades as wages stagnated. Despite campaign promises, making up that lost ground will be no easy feat. Creating more well-paying jobs would help, but that could take years. Tax cuts could mean bigger paychecks for higher earners but won’t immediately help the many working people who don’t pay federal income taxes – people in the bottom 40 percent of incomes receive more back from the federal income tax system on average than they pay in , thanks to tax credits. Expanding those credits, on the other hand, quickly could make a real difference in people’s lives and help return some of the income that’s been sacrificed to changing economies and technology. Specifically, we could follow President Ronald Reagan’s lead and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit . SUPPORT FROM BOTH SIDES A quick history: The credit, created in 1975 to help lower-income workers offset Social Security taxes, was greatly expanded under Reagan, who championed it as a way to reduce poverty while making work more attractive than welfare.