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CLEVELAND, OH – Every day this week, the office of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is highlighting key victories for Ohioans in the American Rescue Plan, critical legislation that will help Ohio recover from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, as part of the Help is Here Ohio series, Brown’s office is drawing attention to relief Brown secured for Ohio workers and their families as part of the American Rescue Plan. The package, which President Biden signed into law earlier this month, includes critical expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC). The expansion of these two credits will help cut taxes for working families, put more money in their pockets amid the current economic crisis, and help address child poverty in this country.

The EITC and CTC are two of the most effective tools to put money in the pockets of working people and pull children out of poverty:

·       Expanding these credits will give tax breaks to the families of 92 percent of Ohio’s kids, helping those Ohio families who are hurting amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and putting more money in their pockets amid the economic downturn.

“Even before the pandemic, hard work wasn’t paying off for millions of workers. Ohioans wanted us to go big and make a real difference in their lives. That’s what these tax credits will do. The EITC and CTC are two of the best tools we have to put money in the pockets of working families and lift millions of children out of poverty,” said Brown. “And we’re not going to stop there. Now, we need to make these expansions permanent to help reward work, reduce poverty, and make life better for millions of Americans.”

Brown has led efforts in Congress to expand the EITC and CTC for years, introducing the Working Families Tax Relief Act every Congress since 2013. The language included in Biden’s American Rescue Plan is based, in part, on Brown’s legislation.

The provisions secured by Brown in the American Rescue Plan include provisions to:

·       Make the Child Tax Credit fully refundable and increase the amount of the credit to $3,000 per child, and $3,600 for a child under age six. Provisions in the bill also increase the age of qualifying children by one year to 17-years-old.

·       Significantly expand the EITC for workers without children and make the credit available for people starting at age 19 and without an upper age limit. Currently, workers without children can be pulled under the poverty line by taxes. Expanding the EITC would fix that. 

·       Allow taxpayers in 2022 to substitute their 2019 income to claim the EITC if their 2021 income was less than 2019 income. This ensures that Ohioans aren’t penalized for financial challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, Brown is working to make these one-year EITC and CTC expansions permanent:

·       Brown is working with Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) to build on the success of the American Rescue Plan by urging President Biden to make these critical tax credit expansions permanent.

·       Last week, Brown led 41 Senate Democrats in a letter to President Biden, urging him to make the EITC and CTC expansions permanent in the next recovery plan he sends to Congress.

Brown also recently introduced the Child Poverty Reduction Act of 2021, which would establish a national goal of reducing child poverty by half in 10 years and require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Census Bureau to annually track the progress toward that goal.

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