Latino Leaders Join Rep. Linda Sánchez in Urging Congress to Include Workers in Upcoming Tax Deals

NCLR, MAOF and Eastmont Community Center Join Rep. Linda Sánchez in Urging Congress Not to Leave Working Families Out of Upcoming Tax Deals

LOS ANGELES—Today, Rep. Linda Sánchez (D–CA) joined NCLR (National Council of La Raza) President and CEO Janet Murguía and NCLR Affiliates Mexican American Opportunity Fund (MAOF) and Eastmont Community Center at a community forum where they called on Congress to include tax credits for workers in upcoming debate on the issue. Congress is expected to resume negotiations on renewing or making permanent business tax credits set to expire this fall. At the forum, Sánchez urged her colleagues in Congress to also protect key provisions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC), which benefit 50 million Americans and would expire in 2017.

“If lawmakers are willing to help businesses recover in this economy, then they should be able to also support hardworking American families. Businesses, after all, also need consumers able to buy and spend in order to thrive,” said Murguía. “Millions of working families depend on these tax credits to keep them out of poverty; ensuring that American workers keep more of what they earn must take priority in Washington.”

In 2009, Congress strengthened these refundable tax credits, which are only available to working people, in order to reach lower-income earners. Together, they now lift more than 9 million people out of poverty nationwide, including about 5 million children. In fact, in California alone, these tax credits lifted more than a million people out of poverty, while adding an estimated $7.3 billion to the state’s economy in 2012.

“EITC and CTC are two of America’s most powerful proven antipoverty and work support programs in the tax code,” said Sánchez. “Together, they help hardworking American families make ends meet and lift nearly 5 million out of poverty. As Congress takes up expiring tax provisions for large businesses this fall, I will continue to fight to give hardworking families in my district and across the country peace of mind knowing they can count on these programs for support. I am proud to stand with NCLR and the Mexican American Opportunity Fund to demand these policies be made permanent.”

Allowing key provisions of these pro-work tax credits to expire at the end of 2017 would cut off part or all of the EITC and CTC to 50 million Americans, pushing 16 million people in low- and modest-income working families deeper into poverty. Latinos would be hit especially hard. An estimated 4 million Latino working families with 9 million children stand to lose an average of more than $900 each.

“We can see that the economic recovery hasn’t been felt equally by all and it is low-income earners who are still struggling the most,” said Teresa Palacios, Executive Director, Eastmont Community Center. “Many hardworking Americans are holding multiple jobs and still living paycheck to paycheck. The consequences of losing out on these tax credits would be devastating to Latino families in California and across the country.”

“It would be foolish to think that the economic problems that existed in 2009 when these provisions were added to the EITC and CTC have been wiped away in 2015,” added Martin Castro, Executive Director, MAOF. “Congress took the right course of action in 2009. They should renew their commitment to our workforce and continue to support these measures that are keeping working Americans out of poverty.”

NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Latinos. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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