Stop the GOP’s Plan to Target and Punish Immigrant Families

America's Voice published this article today urging action against the GOP's Plan to eliminate the Child Tax Credit that millions of working families depend on.

Action Needed: Stop the GOP’s Plan to Target and Punish Immigrant Families

By Mahwish Khan
America's Voice

This week, The New York Times blasted the latest GOP scheme to punish immigrant families:

House Republicans have hit upon a noxious scheme to help pay for an extension of the payroll tax cut: a tax increase on millions of poor working families. A bill passed by the House and now in conference seeks to deny cash refunds under the child tax credit to those who file tax returns using “individual taxpayer identification numbers” issued by the Internal Revenue Service. Only those using Social Security numbers would be eligible.

The refundable portion of the child tax credit is a life-saver for the working poor. Families that would be cut off by this policy change make an average of $21,000 per year, according to the Treasury Department. They would lose an average of $1,800. About 80 percent of those families are Hispanic. The taxpayer identification numbers are used frequently, though not exclusively, by unauthorized immigrants to pay the taxes because they are not eligible for Social Security numbers. The I.R.S. accepts their tax payments and allows families to claim the child tax credit regardless of immigration status. This policy is an effective antipoverty tool that protects children, most of whom are American-born citizens.

The Republicans who have flatly rejected tax increases on the rich have settled instead on limiting this refund, which kept about 1.3 million children from falling into poverty in 2009.

America's Voice is joining with our allies to stop this from happening. We need your help. Here's the action alert from the National Immigrant Law Center:

Though 2012 has just begun, Congress is right now considering a tax change that will hurt children in mixed status families. Legislators have proposed funding a payroll tax break extension by denying critical tax credits for children in the lowest income immigrant families – even as millionaires are protected.

Under the House of Representatives’ proposal, a taxpayer or spouse must have a Social Security Number to be eligible for the Child Tax Credit – a tax credit that is designed to keep working families from falling into poverty. This means that millions of working immigrant families who file using the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number will effectively receive tax increases. It is expected that these families will lose on average $1,800 of much-needed tax credits, forcing immigrant parents to cut back on essential items for their children.

We need you to help us fight this change! On Wednesday and Thursday, NILC and other organizations are organizing a national call-in day to protect working immigrant families. Please call (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected with House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and members of the tax package conference, and your representative to tell them that you OPPOSE funding the payroll tax credit on the backs of working families. (emphasis added)

Together, we must tell our legislators to live up to their pledge of fairness and equality and reject any changes to eligibility for the Child Tax Credit.

Please call (202) 224-3121. It really matters.

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Child Tax Credit Fix Would Help 155,000 Oregon Children

Yesterday, The Oregon Center for Public Policy delivered a letter to Senator Gordon Smith and Senator Ron Wyden urging them to support improvements to the federal Child Tax Credit. CAUSA joined with 12 other organizations signing on to the letter. A copy of it can be found by linking here.

Child Tax Credit Fix Would Help 155,000 Oregon Children

Contacts:
Charles Sheketoff, Executive Director (503) 873-1201
Janet Bauer, Policy Analyst (503) 873-1201
Juan Carlos Ordóñez, Communications Director (503) 873-1201

Improvements to the federal Child Tax Credit would help the families of about 155,000Oregon children, according to advocates who today called on U.S. Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden to back the proposed changes.

The Child Tax Credit — which provides up to $1,000 to qualifying households — is leaving behind low-income families whose wages fail to keep pace with inflation, because the credit’s income eligibility threshold is tied to the rate of inflation, according to Janet Bauer, policy analyst with the Oregon Center for Public Policy.

“Precisely those families who need the Child Tax Credit the most are becoming ineligible or receiving shrinking tax benefits under current law,” said Bauer, citing the impact of stagnant wages and rising inflation. “Oregon children are looking to Senators Wyden and Smith to help fix the problem.”

To expand Child Tax Credit eligibility for low-income families, the U.S. House of Representatives recently adopted legislation that would lower the income threshold from the current level of $12,050 to $8,500.

The House bill would help the families of approximately 35,000 Oregon children who would otherwise be ineligible for the tax credit and would provide an increased tax benefit to the families of an additional 120,000 children in Oregon, said Bauer.

Today, a coalition of 13 organizations in Oregon that advocate on behalf of low-income workers and children sent a letter to Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden seeking their support of legislation in the Senate that helps as many families as the House-approved bill.

The letter notes that both Oregon senators voted recently for legislation that would have improved eligibility for the Child Tax Credit as part of broader tax legislation.

That legislation, however, failed to clear a filibuster by Republican senators, according to Bauer.

“Our senators have shown their commitment to improving the Child Tax Credit for hard-working families,” Bauer said. “We now need them to lead the Senate in adopting legislation as strong as the House version.”

The debate over the Child Tax Credit comes at a time when the Senate faces two other important pieces of tax legislation: an adjustment to the Alternative Minimum Tax to shield middle- and upper-middle-income earners from paying higher taxes and an extension of tax credits for business research and development.

“As the Senate considers help for middle- and upper-middle-income Americans and businesses,” said Bauer, “it should make sure not to leave behind struggling families with children.”

The organizations signing the letter to Senators Smith and Wyden are: CAUSA, Children First for Oregon, Community Action Partnership of Oregon, Disability Rights Oregon, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Oregon Center for Christian Values, Oregon Center for Public Policy, Oregon Developmental Disabilities Coalition, Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force, Oregon Opportunity Network, Oregon Rural Health Coalition, Partnership to End Poverty and Rural Organizing Project.

The Oregon Center for Public Policy is a non-partisan research institute that does in-depth research and analysis on budget, tax and economic issues. The Center’s goal is to improve decision making and generate more opportunities for all Oregonians.

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