Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader Jeffries, and Senator Gillibrand,
As the three largest hunger relief organizations in New York City, we deeply appreciate your ongoing support for our work and the communities we jointly serve.
We write today to urge you to support the Child Tax Credit expansion in the upcoming bipartisan tax package.
Congress has a narrow opportunity in the coming days to make critical improvements to the federal Child Tax Credit (CTC). As you know, the temporary expansion of the CTC in 2021 cut child poverty in half and significantly decreased child hunger. According to Census Pulse Survey responses, we know that millions of families relied on Child Tax Credit benefits to purchase groceries, making it a clear tool for building food security during a climate of ever-changing food costs. Federal tax credits put resources back into household budgets and into communities. They help organizations like ours – and the network of thousands of community-based organizations we partner with – meet increasing need by helping more families avoid our lines.
The bipartisan CTC expansion in the tax bill negotiated by Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith takes an important step toward making the credit work for children in families with low incomes. If passed, this will provide critical refunds to New York families to cover basic needs like food, shelter, medicines, and educational costs, and will be an economic driver for New York State by putting tax dollars back into our communities. While not a full return to that proven policy, the currently proposed changes are a meaningful step in the right direction. In the first year, this change will benefit an estimated 887,000 New York State children whose families currently receive partial or no credit due to their income being too low, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
As our state and national leaders, we urge you to pursue a robust tax package that brings billions of dollars in relief to families across the city, state and country.
In solidarity,
