Evansville Courier Press (Indiana)
It’s great to see growing momentum for federal tax reform (“U.S. Rep. Young discusses tax reform with Indiana businessmen,” August 12th). But the debate can’t just be about businesses — it must also be about children.
Indiana kids have a lot at stake. Together, just three federal tax provisions — the dependent exemption, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the Child Tax Credit — account for the biggest federal investment in America’s children.
By helping parents meet kids’ basic needs, they lift millions of children out of poverty every year. With the number of Indiana kids living poverty up 100,000 from 2007-2011, we can’t waste the opportunity to strengthen these protections and build even more effective defenses against child poverty.
But that will only happen if Indiana’s congressional delegation sends a clear message to both parties that tax reform must be a win for children. With their leadership, we can build a tax code that invests in kids and make real gains on child poverty.
Bruce Lesley is president of First Focus Campaign for Children.