Child Tax Credit Popular Across Parties, Reinstate Now!
URGENT ACTION ALERT: The Child Tax Credit is Popular! Voters: Independent, Republican, Democrats Call for Expansion of the Child Tax Credit
Or in this holiday season will Members of Congress gift poverty to millions of children?
The clock is ticking! Congress must reinstate the refundable Child Tax Credit before the end of 2022. The 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) was an overwhelming success! By making it fully refundable (which made it available to the most impoverished families), raising the amount, and paying it out monthly, the expanded CTC resulted in the largest-ever decline in child poverty in a single year. Child poverty fell to 5.2%, the lowest rate on record.
But Congress failed to make that expansion permanent, driving 3.7 million children back into poverty. One impact – hunger: food insufficiency increased by 25% after the first missed CTC payment in 2022.
There is a disconnect among voters and elected officials! Polls show the CTC is NOT a partisan issue! Among 2022 voters, those who say it is important to reinstate the expanded CTC were: 77% Republican; 94% Democrats; 77% Independent.
Some blocking the expanded CTC say it should have a work requirement. What! Are they saying that caregiving is not work? That unpaid caregivers contribute nothing to society? That grandparents raising grandchildren should get a job outside the home? What about parents with disabilities, those who are full time students? Are they saying that mothers and other primary caregivers only have value if they leave their children in the care of others and take any job outside the home? They’re ignoring the $1.5 trillion that unpaid caregivers contribute to the US economy. Mothers and other caregivers are already working!
Who is left out if the expanded CTC is not extended?
- 5 million children in Veteran and Active-Duty Military families will lose out if the expanded CTC is not renewed by the end of 2022. Of these children one million will lose out entirely if the CTC is not fully refundable.
- 19 million children left out if the CTC is not fully refundable – that is covering families with income too low to pay taxes who have been excluded from some tax credits.
- 33% of children in rural areas because their families’ incomes are too low.
Call your Senators and Representative Today. Reinstate the expanded CTC. No work requirements!Find their phone numbers by entering your zip code at Find your member of Congress or call the Capitol Switchboard 202‑224‑3121. And write them. Find how under ‘Contact Us’ on their websites. |
No Work Requirements for the Child Tax Credit. There is no evidence that the expanded Child Tax Credit caused a decline in parents who work outside the home. Additionally, primary caregivers include grandmothers who step up to care for children whose parents are impacted by the opioid epidemic or incarceration and to care for children who might otherwise end up in foster care with or adopted strangers. And these caregivers are in so-named “red” states and “blue” states, rural & urban.
Send a message to elected officials that they need to listen to those who voted for them! Our children are our most precious resource and must not suffer for partisan political gamesmanship.
“I have a special needs son. Without the Child Tax Credit, some highly beneficial interventions that are not covered by his insurance are not accessible. I earn very low income due to caring for him, which is unpaid for, and I cannot afford paying for those interventions. My little girl’s extra-curricular activities have been taken away. She schools online and I have to fill in the necessary activities for her total development. Without the Child Tax Credit I am unable to give those essentials to my children.”
–Mother in Pennsylvania
“The CTC was helping me catch up on my bills, but now I’m going to have to be starting all over again. Plus food prices went up, and food’s going up more. With the CTC being shut off, some people’s going to be hungry again. That’s going to be a struggle because they ain’t upping your food stamps.”
–Grandmother caring for 3 grandchildren in Philadelphia
Of Wealthy Nations, the US is Close to the Bottom in Resources for Families
The US is way behind other western countries in providing benefits for families; when it comes to cash benefits for children the US is second to last. According to UNICEF, increasing government spending on cash benefits would result in significant reductions in child poverty. Hundreds of organizations are saying to Congress no tax credits for corporations without extending the CTC!
And Tweet your Members of Congress.
| Instructions: Copy and paste each message below into a new tweet on Twitter. You can add your own member of Congress’ Twitter tag to get their attention – to get their tag, on the Twitter home page type their name in ‘Search Twitter’ in the upper right corner. |
| #ChildTaxCredit cut child poverty to lowest level ever in US. But since it ended families struggle to keep food on the table. Children urgently need you to act now. I call on Congress to prioritize our children & pass the expanded #CTC. |
| 5 million children in Veteran & Active-Duty Military families will lose out if the refundable #ChildTaxCredit is not expanded by the end of 2022. 1 million will lose out entirely if the full credit is not made available to families w/ the lowest incomes. https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/5-million-children-in-veteran-and-active-duty-families-will-lose-out-if-child |
| 94% of people who voted Democratic in 2022 and 77% who voted Republican, including 52% of white parents and 63% of BIPOC parents, say it is important for Congress to restore the Child Tax Credit reforms. Congress reinstate the expanded #ChildTaxCredit! |
| Congress reinstate #ChildTaxCredit! Include all families regardless of income. No work requirements, mothers/caregivers already work hard! US families w children deserve permanent family allowance as in all other industrialized nations. |
| Who is left out if expanded CTC is not extended? 19 million children left out if the CTC is not fully refundable – that is covering families with income too low to pay taxes who have been excluded from some tax credits. #ChildTaxCredit |
| Who is left out if expanded CTC is not extended? 33% of children in rural areas because their families’ incomes are too low. #ChildTaxCredit |