***ACTION ALERT**Sign a letter to Increase the Child Tax Credit for over 13 million Children

Children and their families should not be denied the Child Tax Credit because they don't earn enough.

National, State, and Local Organizations -
Sign a letter to Increase the Child Tax Credit for over 13 million Children

Deadline for signing is Monday, July 7 at 5:00 p.m. eastern time

Individuals - If you are not authorized to sign for an organization, you can still speak out to help low-income children! Click here to send a letter via email to your Members of Congress.

Background: 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! (A parent working 30 hours a week for 50 weeks a year at $7.25 would be excluded.) 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.

and forwarding on.
thanks Bobbie!

Mind you, the Child Tax Credit is definatly needed, but for millions of working Americans who have disabilities or other medical conditions in their family, something like a $100 tax credit per $1K or $2K of authorized medical expenses - and the IRS already has the definitions for authorized medical expenses if you're able to take itemized deductions - it would be a ghodsend.

With a disabled spouse getting SSDI (about 3/4 of which one needs to pay taxes on, btw), over $9K in required out of pocket medical expenses a year and a yearly income of just under $50K a year and not enough deductions to take more than the standard deduction, the Child Tax Credit for the kidlet helps, but having a tax credit for the required for my husband to survivemedical expenses would take the strain off this working lower-middle class family even more.

Even with me not taking any exemptions at all on my W-2 - taxing me at more than "single rate", we end up having to pay between $400 and $600 a year because they don't take federal taxes out of SSDI - it's just "not enough to count" per month.
Either don't tax SSDI and Retired Social Security (it's not that much a month you get, anyway), or give us a "Authorized Medical Expenses Tax Credit" instead of tacking it on to the itemized deductions - where the families that really need that deduction can't get it unless Daddy or Mommy finally suffers a Nervous Breakdown, Heart Attack or Stroke while working "hard enough" to both support the family, pay the basic bills, and pay all those taxes as owed, as well as all the monthly medical expenses that aren't frivolous, cosmetic, or otherwise optional for health and welfare - can't benefit.

The only families who currently can benefit from a deduction or credit on critical medical expenses are families who own houses, have a business, or "earn income" from some sort of investment - that is, families who had some sort of luck that they could save in the first place to get to that point where they could invest in a home, a business, expanded education, or stocks, funds, bonds, etc...

Those of us who have spent most of our hard working lives suriving while paycheck to paycheck may get the minimal tax benefit of having children (unless you cost in the expenses of raising children), but keeping healthy to raise healthy families? No dice. Sorry, but "you under-educated, working trash" (like certified Nurses, Trades Journeymen, Administrative Assistants, Line Managers, Bus/Delivery Drivers, etc...), you just aren't smart enough to get tax relief like the all those "investers" who have enough recognized debt to get a deduction.

Why Health Care is not considered as important to the average American as raising children boggles the mind. How can anyone be productive if they have a chronic condition and can't afford to seek regular medical help? Why should someone have to choose between doctor's visits, therapy, and medicines or, basically, being able to "pay their fair share of taxes", as the IRS asserts when they send you a letter demanding over $400 more than you (through your employer) paid with "no exemptions" to supposedly cover the tax gap because your spouse or child is entitled to SSDI?
No refund, more than $170 than your otherwise "equal sized & income healthy family" co-worker pays montly in income taxes, and you still have to pay over $400.
A Medical Costs Tax Credit sould at least save you that extra $400, even if you don't get a refund.

(Just grumping as usual)

Haele

always happen to people who live in poverty. The very people who need the breaks the most don't get them. :(

K&R!

Meanwhile, there was a sharp increase in federal housing subsidies that primarily benefit middle- and upper-income families, namely mortgage interest and property tax deductions. In fiscal year 1990, direct spending on federal low-income housing assistance programs totaled $18.3 billion. More than four times as much was spent through the tax code in the form of homeowner deductions, amounting to some $78.4 billion, disproportionately benefiting those with higher incomes. 54 In 1991, about 81 percent of the $37 billion in tax benefits from deductible mortgage interest went to the top 20 percent of households, with incomes above $50,000.

:pals:

K&R

I appreciate it, and soo will the parents of these children!

Please pass on the info!

:thumbsup:

this is so important for our kids.

:hi:

Thanks!

:pals:

"Too poor to qualify for help"... now that's something really shameful.

is an understatement...:cry:

keep it up there!

using the link - I'm on the CHN mailing list :)

:kick:

Then, I can leave the Action Alerts to you. ;)

I appreciate all you do!

:hug:

Thank you for posting this! You rock! :toast:

Julie

If you haven't acted lets do it!