FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
crodriguezhernandez@skdknick.com
Passage of the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 would have provided much-needed support for American families and promoted Black economic prosperity.
WASHINGTON – The Black Economic Alliance (BEA), a nonpartisan group of Black business leaders and aligned advocates, expresses their deepest disappointment at the lack of bipartisan Senate support for the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024. The Act’s expansion of the Child Tax Credit would have enhanced assistance to more low-income families and kept credit amounts up with inflation. Moreover, the expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit could have catalyzed the creation of additional affordable rental housing.
In January, the House of Representatives passed the legislation with bipartisan support. Today, the Senate voted [48-44] and blocked the bill’s passage. When Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representative Jason Smith (R-MO) announced this crucial piece of legislation, BEA immediately supported and advocated for its passage.
“A fairer and more just economy for Black Americans requires a fairer and more just tax code, and the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act would have been a step in the right direction,” said BEA CEO Samantha Tweedy. “The expansions of the Child Tax Credit and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit in the Act both enjoy broad bipartisan support and, at a time when inflation and housing costs are the top concerns for Black voters, we are disappointed there was not bipartisan Senate support to pass this bill.”
A popular and bipartisan measure, the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) successfully lifted more than 700,000 Black children out of poverty and slashed the Black child poverty rate by more than 40%. However, when the measure expired at the end of 2021, these major achievements were reversed. Passage of the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 would have an important first step in restoring and making permanent ARPA’s CTC expansions, which fixed design flaws in the CTC that prevent almost 45% of Black children from accessing the full credit’s benefits, and was projected to lift almost half a million children above the poverty line within its first year — helping Black families build a foundation for wealth and prosperity.
The legislation would have also expanded the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, the most effective financing tool for creating affordable rental housing in the nation’s history, at a time when rental prices have consistently grown 1.5 times faster than wages and America faces an affordable rental housing shortage of 7.3 million units.
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About the Black Economic Alliance
The Black Economic Alliance is a coalition of Black business leaders and aligned advocates committed to driving economic progress for the Black community through public policy, advocacy, and engagement with government and business leaders. Led by a board that includes executives from a range of industries including media, finance, pharmaceutical, nonprofit, and tech, BEA uses its collective power and business acumen to advance policies that will improve work, wages, and wealth for Black Americans. | https://blackeconomicalliance.org/
