June 03, 2003
Washington, DC -- Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) today became a co-sponsor of H.R. 2286, which would expand the child tax credit and provide marriage penalty relief to working families left out of the recently signed White House-supported tax law. The bill would include an expansion of the refundable child credit, expand the refundable child credit for the families of military serving in Iraq and other combat zones, and accelerate the marriage penalty relief in the Earned Income Tax Credit provided in the 2001 tax bill.
Independent analyses have confirmed that 6.5 million families, including nearly 12 million children, will not receive the additional $400 child tax credit in the new tax law because they were excluded from the bill just before it was passed by the House and Senate late last month. Families who will not benefit earn between $10,500 to $26,625 per year, pay federal income taxes, and have at least one child younger than 17 years old.
“This is an outrage,” said Lee. “The President said that all Americans were going to receive tax relief, and then he not only goes back on his promise, but he hurts those who are most vulnerable. He likes to say that we should ‘leave no child behind,’ but then he happily signs a bill that denies promised child tax credit relief to millions of low-income families and their children.”
Under H.R. 2286, an estimated 19 million children would receive assistance by lowering to $7500 the amount of wages a family must earn before the child credit begins. Another provision in the legislation would speed up marriage penalty relief for working couples who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit. A couple with two children, where each parent earns $10,000, will face an approximately $1000 marriage penalty next year, yet the Republican law did not include acceleration of this marriage penalty relief.
The provisions of the bill would cost $30 billion over ten years, but all costs will be fully offset by provisions that will close corporate tax shelters and will stop the corporate expatriation loophole.
“We must ensure that families and children who have the greatest need, many of whom are African-American, Latino, and other people of color are treated fairly,” said Lee. “At a time when President Bush’s economic plans have led to a jobs depression, it is morally wrong to rub salt into their wounds.”
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Congresswoman Barbara Lee Co-sponsors Bill to Give Tax Relief to Working Families Left Out of Bush Tax Cut Bill
Republicans cut out working families at last minute to make room for tax cuts for millionaires
Washington, DC -- Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) today became a co-sponsor of H.R. 2286, which would expand the child tax credit and provide marriage penalty relief to working families left out of the recently signed White House-supported tax law. The bill would include an expansion of the refundable child credit, expand the refundable child credit for the families of military serving in Iraq and other combat zones, and accelerate the marriage penalty relief in the Earned Income Tax Credit provided in the 2001 tax bill.
Independent analyses have confirmed that 6.5 million families, including nearly 12 million children, will not receive the additional $400 child tax credit in the new tax law because they were excluded from the bill just before it was passed by the House and Senate late last month. Families who will not benefit earn between $10,500 to $26,625 per year, pay federal income taxes, and have at least one child younger than 17 years old.
“This is an outrage,” said Lee. “The President said that all Americans were going to receive tax relief, and then he not only goes back on his promise, but he hurts those who are most vulnerable. He likes to say that we should ‘leave no child behind,’ but then he happily signs a bill that denies promised child tax credit relief to millions of low-income families and their children.”
Under H.R. 2286, an estimated 19 million children would receive assistance by lowering to $7500 the amount of wages a family must earn before the child credit begins. Another provision in the legislation would speed up marriage penalty relief for working couples who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit. A couple with two children, where each parent earns $10,000, will face an approximately $1000 marriage penalty next year, yet the Republican law did not include acceleration of this marriage penalty relief.
The provisions of the bill would cost $30 billion over ten years, but all costs will be fully offset by provisions that will close corporate tax shelters and will stop the corporate expatriation loophole.
“We must ensure that families and children who have the greatest need, many of whom are African-American, Latino, and other people of color are treated fairly,” said Lee. “At a time when President Bush’s economic plans have led to a jobs depression, it is morally wrong to rub salt into their wounds.”
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