John,

Expanding the Child Tax Credit to be fully accessible to low-income families, as was done in 2021, isn’t just the morally right thing to do, it’s politically popular as well.

85% of parents with babies and toddlers want Congress to take swift action in passing the expanded Child Tax Credit and nearly three-quarters of 800 parents surveyed said tax breaks for wealthy corporations should not be passed until Congress reinstates the monthly Child Tax Credit.¹ 94% of Democrats and 77% of Republicans believe passing the expanded Child Tax Credit should be a legislative priority.

In our deeply divided country, I can’t remember the last time so many people with varying political ideologies agreed on an issue by such large numbers.  

Congress needs to hear from us. As they’re negotiating the details of a potential tax package, we need to be loud and clear in our demand that any tax package must prioritize an expansion of the Child Tax Credit for lower-income families. We’re the richest country in the world and there is no reason why any child living here should be in poverty.

Send a direct message to Congress today, urging them to include an expanded Child Tax Credit in any tax package they pass now or in early 2024.

Poverty isn’t an inevitability, it’s a policy choice. And Congress must choose to put vulnerable families ahead of multibillion dollar corporations.

Thank you for all you do,

Meredith Dodson
Senior Director of Public Policy, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ New Poll Shows 85% of Parents of Babies and Toddlers Want Swift Congressional Action to Reinstate Child Tax Credit Reforms

-- DEBORAH'S EMAIL --

John,

Congress is under massive pressure to pass a tax package soon, but corporate lobbyists aren’t interested in investing in families and children. They want more tax handouts to corporations so they can enrich their CEOs and wealthy shareholders. And just yesterday, 150 Representatives sent a letter to Speaker Johnson urging him to make this a priority before the end of the year.¹

We’re not letting them get away with this.

When the Child Tax Credit was expanded in 2021, child poverty fell by 46%. In just one year, there were 716,000 fewer Black children, 1.2 million fewer Hispanic children, and 820,000 fewer white children in poverty—a stunning achievement.²

When Congress let it expire at the end of 2021, all of the gains made were wiped out. The percentage of people with children who reported sometimes or often not having enough to eat in the past week rose from 10.4% in the summer of 2021, when families were getting the CTC, to 14.6% in the summer of 2022, when they weren’t—a 40% increase. And without the CTC, it’s still getting worse—just before Thanksgiving, the proportion of people with kids reporting this kind of hunger rose to 16%.³

Child poverty isn’t an inevitability, it’s a policy choice. Demand Congress put children, not corporations, first and include the expanded Child Tax Credit as Congress negotiates a year-end tax package.

Congress has a chance to expand the Child Tax Credit to fix a major flaw in current law: over 19 million children and their families are excluded from the full credit because their parents' incomes are too low. You read that right. Many parents who work at low wages cannot get the full CTC. For example, a single parent earning $15,000 a year and who has two children, will receive less from the tax credit than a family with a parent who has a higher paying job. Plus, families where a parent can’t work due to illness or being laid off, cannot qualify for the Child Tax Credit at all. This is a major flaw that does nothing but exacerbate inequity and accelerates the racial wealth gap.

$250 to $300 per child, per month. That’s all it would take to keep millions of children out of poverty, which leads to better school performance, better health outcomes, and more mentally and emotionally well-adjusted children. Expanding the Child Tax Credit will have immeasurable benefits to families and our society for generations to come.

Send a letter to Congress today and tell them to include the expanded Child Tax Credit in any forthcoming tax package.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ Rank-and-file House Republicans press Johnson for year-end tax deal
² Expansions to Child Tax Credit Contributed to 46% Decline in Child Poverty Since 2020
³ CHN analysis of Census Household Pulse Data - here and here.