Hartford - Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Tuesday joined Democratic lawmakers and social services advocates to herald the implementation of Connecticut's new Earned Income Tax Credit for low- and moderate-income individuals and families.

The credit was included in the governor's biennial budget plan that passed the General Assembly this spring. The cost to the state is a projected $110 million this fiscal year.

Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia now offer some type of earned income tax credit.

Under Connecticut's program, the approximately 190,000 state households that are eligible for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit will receive an additional credit equal to 30 percent of the federal one.

State officials expect the average state credit to be $540 and the maximum credit to be $1,700.

People can receive free assistance in claiming the credit through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, which has dozens of outreach sites throughout the state during tax season, including in New London and Norwich.

"This is about working families and encouraging work and making our economy stronger," Malloy said at a reception in the Capitol. The governor urged everyone eligible to apply for the credit.

"The average (tax credit) filer in Connecticut is a household with children earning less than $20,000 a year," said Jim Horan, executive director of the Connecticut Association for Human Services. The credit "will put much needed money in their pockets - money that will help their families, their neighborhood businesses and the Connecticut economy."

The credit's advocates recognized state Sen. Martin Looney, D-New Haven, as the initiative's chief proponent in the legislature for more than a decade.

Looney, who is Senate majority leader, said that while some of the credit's beneficiaries do not make enough money to pay state income taxes, they still pay a significant amount of sales tax, gasoline tax, licensing fees as well as property taxes via rent payments.

Looney said the key to finally getting the tax credit passed was Malloy's election as governor. While the credit made it into state budget proposals in 2007 and 2008, it was removed both years during negotiations with Gov. M. Jodi Rell, a Republican.

"What a difference it is to have a partner rather than an adversary in that position," Looney said.

The federal credit dates to 1975 and was significantly expanded by former President Ronald Reagan in the mid-1980s.

The maximum state credit based on 2010 rates would have been:

• $137 for filers with no children;

• $915 for filers with one child;

• $1,511 for filer with two children;

• $1,700 for filers with three or more children.

j.reindl@theday.com