Faith leaders sign on: Ask Congress to make the Child Tax Credit fully refundable
Below is a letter for faith leaders focused on the Child Tax Credit (CTC) in the reconciliation process. The letter is circulated by Rev. Jim Wallis, bestselling author, public theologian, and commentator on religion and public life, faith, and politics who serves as the first Chair in Faith and Justice and leader of the Center on Faith and Justice in the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy. The ELCA Witness in Society advocacy team is supporting the letter and asking others to join in signing.
This letter will be sent to the Hill next Tuesday or Wednesday. The letter will be accompanied by a full-page ad in Politico and also possibly the Charleston Gazette (WV) on Thursday, May 26th. Watch this space for talking points to all signers to use in reaching out to media and a social media toolkit.
Dear Mr. President and Members of Congress,
As Christians, we serve a God who commands us to care for the poor. The Bible contains over 2,000 passages instructing us to protect the poor and we must be obedient to our holy scriptures.
As you work to craft an economic reconciliation bill, we would like to lift up one preeminent priority: making the Child Tax Credit fully refundable and available to low-income families on a permanent basis. The expanded Child Tax Credit has been a remarkable success at reducing child poverty and making strides toward racial and geographic equity. Before the expanded credit roughly half of Black and Latino children, and half of children living in rural areas, got less than the full credit because their families’ incomes were too low. If the credit is made fully refundable, these children would receive the full credit amount.
Inflation has dramatically increased the cost of food and housing. The failure of Congress to extend the expanded monthly Child Tax Credit last December has hurt millions of families. Child poverty increased 41% in January 2022, after the expanded credit expired. Children in families with the least financial means are hurt most. In addition the loss of the expanded tax credit practically means that a family of four with moderate income and two children would get at least $2,600 less.
Last week the Senate indicated its strong support for research and development tax cuts. While we support investments in critical research and development, it is simply wrong to prioritize tax breaks to corporations over tax breaks for poor and middle class families.
If Congress were to make the current $2,000 Child Tax Credit fully refundable and available to all low-income families, the number of children experiencing poverty would fall by an estimated 20 percent. This could help families afford things like food, shoes for their children, or decent housing. Congress cannot leave ”the least of these” (Matt 25) behind.
The experience of the expanded Child Tax Credit demonstrated that Congress has the power to alleviate the hardships faced by poor children. We dearly hope that all lawmakers will search their conscience and follow the call of all our faiths, and pass a reconciliation bill that makes the Child Tax Credit fully available to all low-income families with our poorest children. It is the right and wise thing to do for a decent nation. To pass a reconciliation bill without including a permanent and fully refundable Child Tax Credit would be morally indefensible.
Respectfully submitted,