How to Advocate for the Expanded Child Tax Credit in 2024
Updated Feb. 2, 2024
If you’ve followed along the past couple of weeks, you’ll know the expanded Child Tax Credit has been up for consideration in the bipartisan tax package that Congress is considering. Late Wednesday night, this legislation passed in the House of Representatives. It now moves on to the Senate.
Rural Assembly is joining forces with our friends at ruralorganizing.org to make sure Congress knows just how meaningful the expanded CTC would be to families across rural America. Sign up for updates and more from Rural Organizing.
A report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities points out that “This bipartisan proposal puts its Child Tax Credit priorities where they belong: focused on the roughly 19 million children who today are left behind because their families’ incomes are too low. When fully in effect, the proposal would lift some 500,000 or more children above the poverty line and make about 5 million additional children less poor than if the current credit remained in place.”
We know that there are higher rates of poverty amongst rural children and families, so the expanded Child Tax Credit would have important benefits in our communities.
Join us in contacting your Senator and advocating for this important measure.
Plus, don’t miss this new article from the Daily Yonder highlighting a study of the pandemic-era expansion that shows the extra money reduced anxiety and depression among adults in low-income families.
Sample language:Hello, I am a constituent in your district. I am calling to ask you to vote yes on the expansion of the Child Tax Credit. Families in our state are being left out of this critical tax credit in its current form. This is our opportunity to lift more children out of poverty. I hope you will do the right thing and expand the Child Tax Credit. We urgently need to improve the quality of life for 19 million children excluded from the full credit, and this is one key measure in doing so. I’m counting on you to pass this measure.
Thank you,Your Name
