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Opinion: How could we let the child tax credit expire?

The child tax credit helped lift many children out of poverty

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Students Arelyanna, 3, and Javier, 2, play with their toy cars to wrap up the day at Cuidando Los Ninos in Albuquerque, N.M. The charity provided housing, child care and financial counseling for mothers, all of whom benefited from expanded child tax credit payments.

Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press

I am not living in poverty and I do not have children. But last year, the expanded child tax credit monthly payments put money back into the hands of American families when they needed it most. New data proves how well it worked.

The new 2021 U.S. Census Supplemental Poverty Measure report shows that the 2021 child tax credit reduced child poverty by 46%. In one year, the expanded child tax credit pushed the child poverty rate to the lowest level ever measured.

Fifty-one senators let the child tax credit expansion expire last December. How could we let this happen?

Our members of Congress need to expand the child tax credit to all low-income families, with a monthly payment option, in any tax legislation this year. This isn’t just good for children, it’s good for all of us to live in a society that invests in its own future.

Naresh Kumar

Salt Lake City