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Letter: Expanded Child Tax Credit drastically cut the child poverty rate. It must be brought back.

FILE- A file photo shows a portion of the 1040 U.S. Individual Income Tax Return form for 2018 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

I am not living in poverty and I do not have children. But last year, the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) 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 (CTC) reduced child poverty by 46 percent! In one year, the expanded CTC pushed the child poverty rate to the lowest level ever measured.

51 senators let the CTC 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

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