FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 29, 2024
Contact: Kirstin Snow, snow@pennpolicy.org
Nearly Forty Statewide Organizations Call on PA Congressional Delegation to Pass Bipartisan Child Tax Credit
Harrisburg, PA — Today a diverse, ad hoc coalition of 38 organizations in Pennsylvania sent a letter to the state’s congressional delegation, urging Senator Bob Casey, Senator John Fetterman, and Pennsylvania’s 17 US representatives to support and champion a bipartisan bill that would cut childhood poverty by expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC). The Tax Relief for American Families & Workers Act (House Resolution 7024) would expand the CTC and benefit 19 million children in low-income families — 1 in 5 children under age 17 — including more than half a million (506,000) in Pennsylvania. The bill was advanced by the House Ways and Means Committee earlier this month in a 40–3 vote and could come to the House floor this week.
The Pennsylvania Policy Center (PPC), one of the groups that signed the letter, found in its analysis of the legislation that the expansion of the CTC would lift 400,000 children nationwide out of poverty in the first year, including 16,000 in Pennsylvania. Another 3 million kids across the county would be made less poor — 120,000 of them in Pennsylvania. At present, 19 million children in the country receive less than the full credit because of the current “refundability cap,” which limits benefits to families with incomes below $40,000. In a January 19th statement, PPC reported that the proposed legislation lifts the cap from the current limit of $1,600 per child to $1,800 per child for tax year 2023 and $1,900 per child in tax year 2024, lifting the cap entirely in 2025 so that the maximum credit of $2,000 will be available to all families.”
Organizations that signed the letter include the United Way of Pennsylvania, regional and local food banks, Latino advocacy organizations, and progressive activists’ groups. The letter notes that the temporary expansion of the CTC in 2021 under the American Rescue Plan was much larger than what is proposed in HR 7024, stating that “we fervently hope that a similar program will be enacted in the future … [but the] current legislation, which is rightly targeted to benefit the lowest-income families, is a necessary and promising first step in that direction.”
LIST OF SIGNERS:
AccessMatters
Action Together Northeastern Pennsylvania
Americans for Democratic Action Southeastern Pennsylvania
CASA / CASA in Action
Ceiba
Children First
Coalition for Low Income Pennsylvanians
Community Legal Services
The Council of Southeast Pennsylvania
Cumberland County Food System Alliance
Food Helpers/DBA Gr. Washington County Food Bank
The Food Trust
Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger
Helping Harvest Fresh Food Bank
The HUB for Progress
Hunger-Free Pennsylvania
Indiana County Community Action Program, Inc.
Just Harvest
Lycoming County Progressives
Make the Road Pennsylvania
Manna on Main Street
Mercer County Food Bank
National Council of Jewish Women – Pennsylvania
New Pennsylvania Project
NextGen America
One Pennsylvania
Partnership for Better Health
Pennsylvania Policy Center
Philabundance
Philly Neighborhood Networks
Pittsburgh Food Policy Council
Project SHARE of Carlisle
School Nutrition Association of Pennsylvania
Share Food Program
Shippensburg Produce Outreach, Inc
United Way of Pennsylvania
Westmoreland Food Bank
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Statement on Federal Child Tax Credit Expansion – Pennsylvania Policy Center
A post from Pennsylvania Policy Center on Pennsylvania Policy Center provided by: https://pennpolicy.org