Quanda Burrell, a single mother of two, works full time as a day-care teacher, earns $24,000 a year, and juggles the bills that inevitably pile up in her Boston home. But each year around this time, she says, she is able to “clear the slate,” paying her debts with an income tax refund bolstered by an $800 state credit.

Burrell, 29, is among more than 400,000 low-income workers in Massachusetts who would benefit from a proposed increase in the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit, widely viewed as one of most effective antipoverty programs and supported by lawmakers and policy makers across the political spectrum.

Extra money can also have a profound impact on health and future earnings. Research has shown that expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit not only increases workforce participation, it decreases low-weight births, improves test scores, and encourages families to buy more healthful food. “This may be a bill that’s going to help my patients almost as much as any other type of health intervention,” Sandel said.