I am your constituent and I urge you to expand the Child Tax Credit to make it fully available to all low-income children. There are currently 19 million children excluded from the full credit because their parents don’t earn enough. With House and Senate negotiators working to finalize a tax package, expanding the CTC for the lowest income families currently left out of the full benefit must be your top priority — not more tax breaks for businesses. And, I believe proposals to expand the CTC that would do little or nothing to reduce child poverty should be rejected.
When the Child Tax Credit was expanded in 2021, child poverty fell by 46%, with Black and Hispanic child poverty falling dramatically in each community. The Child Tax Credit alone lifted 716,000 Black children and 1.2 million Hispanic children out of poverty.
But in the year after the monthly CTC payments stopped, the number of poor children soared, from 4 million to 9 million. Had the expanded CTC continued in 2022, 3 million fewer children would have been poor. One painful result: 2 million more people with children reported sometimes or often not having enough to eat, compared to the summer when the CTC payments were being delivered.
Currently about one-fourth of all children — 19 million children in all — are in families with incomes too low to receive the full CTC. A parent with two children needs to make over $27,900 in order to receive the full CTC — i.e. they’d need to work full time at twice the current federal minimum wage to get the full CTC. Many parents and caregivers cannot work full time because they have important responsibilities in their families and communities — caring for children and elders, supporting neighbors, volunteering at community organizations — or have chronic health conditions or disabilities themselves.
Ultimately all families should receive the full CTC, regardless of parents’ work status, and that monthly delivery of the CTC can give parents and caregivers not only the peace of mind that they will be able to pay their bills and put food on the table month to month, but also provide consistent support that families can rely on.
Expanding the CTC isn’t just the morally right thing to do, it’s popular across every demographic. 82% of voters support an expanded CTC — including 77% of Republicans. Congress’ job is to carry out the will of the people. It’s obvious that the people want an end to child poverty. I believe all low-income families should receive the full CTC, regardless of parents’ work status.
With tax negotiations happening now, I’m counting on you to prioritize children and families in our tax code. No tax breaks for businesses should be considered without the urgently needed expansion of the Child Tax Credit for the 19 million currently left out. Thanks.
