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John,
Project 2025 poses an existential threat to our health care and education system, but another threat it poses is to our social safety net and anti-poverty programs through its dismantling of the U.S. tax code.
According to an analysis of Project 2025 by the Joint Economic Committee, it calls for eliminating “most tax credits, deductions, and exclusions,” but doesn't specify which ones.1
The two most popular tax credits that overwhelmingly benefit people with low-and-middle incomes are the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The EITC is the largest anti-poverty program in the country and eliminating it would mean 23 million Americans would fall further into poverty.2
While the current Child Tax Credit (CTC) isn’t as robust as the expanded CTC that was in effect in 2021, it’s still one of the most effective ways to reduce poverty nationwide.
The current CTC provides a partial tax credit to low-income families who earn at least $2,500 per year. In 2018, the credit lifted 4.3 million people out of poverty, including 2.3 million children, and lessened poverty for 5.8 million children.3 Of course, what we really need is to restore the expanded CTC, which cut child poverty by a historic 46%.4 Project 2025 would take us giant steps backward.
The American people deserve to know about the devastating tax plan included in Project 2025’s radical agenda. Add your name to call on news networks to expose Project 2025’s tax nightmare now.
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The EITC supplements the income of low wage workers—both single and married. In the 2024 tax year, a single person making $59,899 with 3 or more qualifying children could receive the maximum benefit of $7,830.5 The benefits of the EITC can last for generations. Research has shown that children in families who qualified for a larger share of the EITC are more likely to graduate from high school or receive their General Education Development (GED) and are more likely to start college by the ages of 19 or 20.6
At the same time, Project 2025 calls for cutting taxes and tax enforcement of the wealthy and corporations, including:
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Eliminating the 15% corporate minimum tax and the 1% excise tax on stock buybacks completely.
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Freezing IRS funding allocated by the Inflation Reduction Act, which has quickly allowed the agency to recoup over $1 billion in unpaid taxes by the very wealthy and significantly improve taxpayer services.
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Reducing the number of income tax brackets and lowering rates, which would give the ultra-wealthy a massive tax cut and increase taxes on working families. A Center for American Progress study found a family of four with $100,000 in annual income would pay $2,600 in additional income tax under this change, while a family of the same size making $5 million a year would receive a $325,000 tax cut.7
Right-wing politicians love to create massive federal deficits through tax cuts for the wealthy and then use those deficits as an excuse to cut programs for low-income people.
Join us in calling on news networks across the country to expose Project 2025’s tax nightmare, which would have a devastating impact on our economy and on anti-poverty programs.
Thank you for all you do,
Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, CHN Action
1 HOW PROJECT 2025’S ECONOMIC POLICIES HURT FAMILIES
2 Statistics for Tax Returns with the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
3 Policy Basics: The Child Tax Credit
4 Expansions to Child Tax Credit Contributed to 46% Decline in Child Poverty Since 2020
5 Earned income and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) tables
6 Research Shows Long-Lasting Benefits of EITC
7 Project 2025 would overhaul the U.S. tax system. Here's how it could impact you.
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