House and Senate negotiators are reportedly close to reaching a deal on expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC).

Right now, 19 million children in low-income families either receive a partial tax credit, or no credit at all. If passed, this new bill would make a bigger Child Tax Credit available to millions more families, lifting 400,000 children out of poverty, and strengthening families’ incomes at a time of extreme food and housing insecurity.

The current CTC wrongly provides higher benefits to a family earning $400,000 per year than families earning $15,000. This bill would fix that, and would nearly double the tax credit for families with more than one child.

It would apply retroactively to 2023, so families filing their taxes this spring would receive the expanded CTC, and it would be tied to inflation starting in 2025, increasing the benefit for low-income families and helping them to keep up with rising costs.

This proposal is not perfect. But it is absolutely our best chance to reduce child poverty this year―at a time when the right-wing is attempting to cut programs and services instead of investing in low-income families. We will build on this year’s temporary improvements to secure tax policies that will dramatically and permanently reduce child poverty over the long term.

We’ve already sent more than 75,000 letters to Congress demanding they pass an expanded CTC immediately. We need to keep the pressure on to ensure that expanding the CTC is a top priority for Congress this coming week.

Donate today to power our lobbying efforts demanding Congress expand the Child Tax Credit and bring the full credit to millions of low-income families.

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Expanding the Child Tax Credit is one of our highest priorities as we work to address child poverty and racial disparities. Your support fuels that work.

Thank you for all that you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs