BEND, OR – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D) was in Bend Tuesday to drum up support for his proposal to expand the Child Tax Credit.
“We are launching a full-court press in order to make sure that kids and families get a fair shot,” Senator Wyden used basketball terms at the Boys and Girls Club gym to get his point across to the gathered crowd of community leaders, and officials from NeighborImpact who spoke of their own personal experience as parents.
He tells KBND News it is important to hear from working families, "I'm going to take these stories back to Washington and tell them there because there's nothing more important than getting this out of the kind of Washington lingo and a bunch of bureaucratic sounding noise.”
The Democrat wants the Senate to pass his legislation by this year’s tax deadline on April 15th, “For Central Oregon, kids and families, particularly the many who are walking an economic tightrope, balancing the food bill against the rent bill and, essentials, this is absolutely crucial.”
The House passed the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act in January, with broad bi-partisan support.
“In my view, these measures to help kids grow up healthy, produce an enormous amount of value and the multiplier starts kicking in pretty quickly,” Wyden said, adding, “This is really about our values; this is about what we really care about and giving kids a chance to get a little bit of help so they can get started is huge.”
If the bill is passed by the Senate, it would increase the maximum refundable amount per child to $1,800 for 2023 taxes, $1,900 for next year, and $2,000 for 2025.
