Did you know that a parent working 30 hrs. a week for 50 weeks a year at $7.25 earns too little to qualify for the Child Tax Credit?
Outraged?
If so, please have your Organization sign a letter to make the Child Tax Credit reach many more working families. We strongly encourage organizations from across the country to sign.
Deadline: Monday, July 7 at 5:00 p.m. eastern time
Not with an organization, but still want to speak out? Click here to send a letter via email to your Members of Congress.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/125/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25071Background: Middle- and many upper-income families receive a $1,000 Child Tax Credit (CTC) for each child age 17 and under. Some poor working families who do not owe federal income taxes benefit from the CTC, but current law requires they have minimum earnings of $12,050 to receive at least a partial credit. If their earnings are lower they are too poor to qualify! Further, every year the minimum is adjusted upward for inflation. It started at $10,000 in 2001; the annual increases have excluded low-wage-earners every year.
Congress is working to extend certain tax benefits to corporations and individuals. The House has already passed a tax bill (H.R. 6049) that includes a big improvement for low-income families: it lowers the minimum for receiving CTC to $8,500 and removes the inflation adjustment. Families of over 13 million children would become newly eligible to receive the credit or would receive larger credit under the House bill. The Senate has not acted, but Finance Committee Max Baucus (D-MT) has introduced a bill with a $10,000 minimum. The families of more than 1.5 million children would either receive no CTC or a smaller refund at the higher $10,000 level. Congress must not delay in enacting tax legislation that includes the $8,500 refundable CTC threshold and ends annual inflation increases.
To sign your organization on the letter go to:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/125/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1294. Please sign only if you are authorized to do so by your organization!
Individuals can send an email to their members of Congress by here:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/125/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25071.Please forward this email to others in your network. Children and their families should not be denied the Child Tax Credit because they don't earn enough.
Thank you!