John,
Next week is absolutely critical to passing a robust COVID relief bill and ensuring it helps as many millions of people as possible.
Already, each separate component of the pandemic relief package has started coming out of House committees, being combined into one bill. Two critical aspects of this package are proposed expansions of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
Read Frank’s email below about this once in a lifetime opportunity to lift children and families out of poverty, and then write to your members of Congress and tell them to expand and increase the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit to help millions of people and families at this urgent time of need.
An expansion of the Child Tax Credit would reach millions more Black and Latino children who don’t currently receive the full tax credit because their parents don’t earn enough. But the new CTC expansion fixes this problem in the following way:
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, this critical improvement would give a family making an average of $11,000 a year about an extra $1,100 in their pockets. A family making about $30,000 a year would get about $800 more. A family making around $51,000 would get an extra $660 this year.[1]
And, for workers without children, their maximum Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) would rise from about $530 to $1,500. This means that a cashier earning $9 an hour at 30 hours a week, who now gets only $160 in their EITC, would see an increase to $1,145.[2]
Write to your members of Congress today!
Thank you for fighting for a pandemic relief package that meets the urgency of the moment.
Mark Rickling
Policy and Legislative Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
[1] “Details of House Democrats’ Cash Payments and Tax Credit Expansions,” Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Feb. 9, 2021
[2] “President-Elect’s Plan Includes Vital EITC Increase for Adults Not Raising Children,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Jan. 15, 2021
-- Frank's Email --
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Tell Congress:
"Right now, we have a real opportunity to improve the lives of millions of children and cut childhood poverty virtually in half. We must not let this opportunity pass us by. I urge you to vote in favor of the expansion of the Child Tax Credit and to raise the Earned Income Tax Credit for workers without children, both of which are part of the new pandemic relief legislation."
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John,
Republicans in Congress seem to always find a way to justify tax breaks for the rich, even as they reject critically needed aid for children, families and communities in need.
Just look at the tax breaks handed out to the rich and corporations, and the obscene wealth gains of the 0.1% on the Republicans’ watch:
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The nearly $2 trillion Trump-GOP tax scam that mostly benefited the rich and corporations.
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The $135 billion Millionaires Giveaway, which hands an average $1.6 million tax cut to 43,000 millionaires; Senate Republicans snuck it into the original COVID relief bill last March.
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And, according to Americans for Tax Fairness research, 661 American billionaires have seen their wealth skyrocket by $1.2 trillion since the pandemic began.
Even as tens of millions of people have lost their jobs or lost wages as a result of the pandemic, and as the vaccine rollout is leaving out Black and brown communities and those most in need, Republicans have opposed funding a full COVID relief plan to get us through this horrible pandemic.
Right now, even in the face of Republican obstructionism, we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to drastically reduce poverty and lift up millions of children and families in the pandemic relief bill moving through Congress.
Click here to send a letter to your members of Congress calling on them to expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to reach millions of people at this urgent time of need.
Right now, the CTC expansion being considered by Congress would lift 4.1 million children out of poverty and cut childhood poverty by more than 40%.[1]
In addition to children and families, we can help more than 17 million of the poorest adults through an increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). These are front-line workers without dependent children―cashiers, food preparers, home health aides and more.[2]
Join Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund and our allies in demanding Congress include these critical anti-poverty tools in the final COVID relief package. Write to your members of Congress today!
Thank you for all that you do to demand a fair share tax system and economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.
Frank Clemente
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
[1] “House Ways and Means COVID Relief Bill Includes Critical Expansions of Child Tax Credit and EITC,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Feb. 9, 2021
[2] “President-Elect’s Plan Includes Vital EITC Increase for Adults Not Raising Children,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Jan. 15, 2021
