Some very low income workers that get the EIC end up with a net payment.

TIL!

Every tax form I’ve ever filled out has an instruction like:

> Enter the lesser of lines X and Y

when applying deductions and credits to prevent them from exceeding some value.

I’m surprised to learn that the EIC isn’t clamped like this.

As noted elsewhere, the EITC is a so-called "refundable" credit. It wouldn't serve its intended purpose if it wasn't refundable.

It is a refundable credit