MLK Day invites us to consider how we can contribute to creating communities founded on love, compassion, and understanding. For nearly 50 years, we at Crisis Assistance Ministry have been working on the front line to do just that by providing help, hope, and understanding to people struggling with limited financial resources.
Does poverty exist because we want it to? In his new book, “POVERTY, BY AMERICA,” Matthew Desmond asks this and other provocative questions about persistent poverty in our land of plenty.
Back in March of 2021, as part of the American Rescue Plan, Congress expanded an important tax benefit: The Federal Child Tax Credit. The credit, originally enacted as part of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, was increased from $2,000 to $3,000 per child ages 6-17, and to $3,600 per child below the age of 6. The bill also made an important change to the credit: making it fully refundable. Even if parents owed less in taxes than the credit covered, they could still receive the full refund.
The effects were remarkable.
