The word “taxes” elicits a knee jerk reaction of worry, threatening a costly financial impact on our lives. Phil Sletten’s My Turn (Monitor, 9/12) shows that tax policy can make a positive impact on our lives if we use it to provide relief to our lower income neighbors and stimulate the economy (vs corporate tax cuts). Child poverty dropped to a historic low in 2021 when Congress expanded the Child Tax credit to all families with low or no income. Monthly payments gave parents the opportunity to budget for their children’s basic needs.

A small group of politicians in Washington blocked an extension of the CTC monthly payments with disastrous results shared this week by the U.S. Census. Between 2021 and 2022, more than 5 million U.S. children fell into poverty, more than doubling the child poverty rate due to Congress’ inaction on the CTC. Two years ago, we were on the road to ending child poverty. Are corporations more important than our children? I urge Representatives Pappas and Kuster and Senators Shaheen and Hassan to expand the CTC to families with low incomes and reject any tax legislation that does not.

Crystal Sexton

Hampton

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