LDF, Community Change Action, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP, the National Urban League, and UnidosUS sent a letter urging members of Congress to pass the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) focused on helping children in low-income families as soon as possible, and to refrain from passing any extension or expansion of corporate tax breaks without also including an expanded monthly refundable Child Tax Credit.
Expanding the Child Tax Credit is a proven method to reduce child poverty and improve economic mobility, particularly for families of color, without reducing workforce participation. Black and Latino children experienced the greatest benefits.7 In 2021, the poverty rate fell to 8.3 percent for Black children and to 8.4 percent for Latino children.8 Most low-income families spent the expanded CTC on basic necessities like food, utilities, and rent or mortgage payments, as well as education. Unfortunately, these gains evaporated as soon as the monthly CTC payments ended. At the same time that families lost access to the expanded CTC, they also faced rising costs due to inflation. Investing in families by expanding the CTC is one of the best ways to combat the effects of inflation.
Read the full letter here.
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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil rights law organization. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Please note that LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights.
