First, credits reduce a taxpayer;s liability dollar for dollar. If a taxpayer's total liability is low enough, and a credit is refundable, it can even result in a direct payment from the government to taxpayer. The two largest credits are the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income, working Americans (which provided its recipients with about $60 billion in 2010) and the child tax credit (with gave $48 billion to low- and moderate-income families). The most significant business credits include those for research and experimentation and for developing low-income housing, each of which amounted to almost $6 billion last year.