NLIHC joined more than 100 other national groups in two letters sent on October 3 encouraging members of Congress to support the “Working Families Tax Relief Act” (H.R. 3157, S. 1138), which would expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC). One letter urges the current 45 cosponsors in the Senate to pass the bill as part of a tax-expanders package; the other asks members of the House to join as cosponsors.
Studies shows the EITC and CTC encourage work and have lasting benefits for children by improving health, college attendance, and even lifetime earnings. The Working Families Tax Relief Act (WFTRA) includes improvements to these highly effective policies that would benefit 46 million households with over 100 million people and nearly 50 million children. The bill would increase EITC for families with children by nearly 25%, and it would expand the credit for working people without children – who currently receive only a small credit, if any – and extend eligibility to a broader age range. Additionally, the proposal allows low- and moderate-income families to benefit from the $1,000-per-child CTC increase included in the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017” by making the credit fully refundable. Without refundability, an estimated 26 million children do not benefit because their families are too poor.
Read the letter to current Senate cosponsors at: https://tinyurl.com/yxbxzt38
Read the letter to House representatives at: https://tinyurl.com/y3bwu7nr