Members of Congress Support Tax Proposal That Will Push 1.5 Million Americans into Poverty

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Twenty-six senators are co-signers of Senate bill S. 3773—the Tax Hike Prevention Act—proposed by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The bill will take key tax credits away from low-income working families. It comes on the heels of today's release of U.S. Census Bureau state poverty figures.

"This bill fails to continue the current Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) benefit levels. As a result, nearly a million children will be pushed into poverty," said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. "It is disappointing that seven of the senators supporting this bill live in states that rank among the top 10 with the highest poverty rates in the country."

According to the new poverty data, these states have the highest poverty rates:

1. Mississippi: 21.9 percent

2. Arkansas: 18.8 percent

3. Kentucky: 18.6 percent

4. Washington, DC: 18.4 percent

5. New Mexico: 18 percent

6. West Virginia: 17.7 percent

7. Alabama: 17.5 percent

8. Louisiana: 17.3 percent

9. Texas: 17.2 percent

10. South Carolina and Tennessee: 17.1 percent

The bill also is supported by Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL), David Vitter (R-LA), Thad Cochran (R-MS), John Cornyn, Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

Under the McConnell proposal, more than 18 million children will see their CTC reduced or eliminated, and a single parent working full-time and earning minimum wage will see their CTC reduced from nearly $1,800 to $320—a loss of nearly $1,500. In addition, more than 7 million households will see their EITC benefits reduced or eliminated. Extending the current EITC and CTC benefit levels would keep more than 1.5 million people, including 858,000 children, from falling into poverty.

Bread for the World (www.bread.org) is a collective Christian voice urging our nation's decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad.

SOURCE Bread for the World

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