Campaign to make the Child Tax Credit permanent 

By Payday

In 2021, as part of a pandemic rescue plan, the US government expanded the Child Tax Credit (CTC) to include caregivers with no or low income. Payday joined the Global Women’s Strike and others’ campaign to make the CTC permanent and for the money to be paid directly to mothers or other primary caregivers. In January 2022, this expansion was stopped and 3.7 million children that had been lifted out of poverty, were thrown back into destitution. However, the campaign continues. Census data released in September 2022 showed that child poverty fell 46% in 2021, mainly due to the expanded CTC. When the first CTC checks were issued in July 2021, we helped organize a “Keep Families Afloat” rally in Philadelphia with women’s organizations based at the Crossroads Women’s Center.