Dads Caucus

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Chair of the Congressional Dads Caucus, urged IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel to expand access to the enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for working families, and ensure equity in our tax system.

In a letter to Werfel, Gomez wrote, “Permanently expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC) is a key pillar of the Congressional Dads Caucus because our members—fathers and mothers who represent districts from across the country—know the CTC, as expanded by the American Rescue Plan Act, was transformative for working families: it lifted nearly 4 million children out of poverty in 2021 alone. The CTC is a critical tool for fighting child poverty and ensuring parents and caregivers have the resources they need to raise happy and healthy children.”

“In my work as Chair of the Dads Caucus, I am deeply invested in ensuring that the CTC reaches the families who need it most. This requires addressing racial disparities in the tax system so that the CTC does as much as possible to advance economic and racial justice. Addressing racial inequities is central to ensuring fairness in our tax system,” wrote Gomez.

Rep. Gomez specifically raised concerns about how racial disparities in auditing are disproportionately impacting Black fathers, and potentially other fathers and their families. According to a Stanford study, the highest audit rates as well as the largest racial disparities in auditing affect Black unmarried fathers who claim the EITC. Black unmarried fathers claiming the EITC are audited at rates more than four percentage points higher than their non-Black counterparts (7.73 percent compared to 3.46 percent).

Gomez is urging the IRS to:

·         Ensure access to the Child Tax Credit to help combat child poverty

·         Report on an annual basis on any racial disparities in auditing;

·         Further disaggregate and report on data by race and gender; and

·         Share information about the drivers for any disparities discovered and the steps being taken to address them.

A PDF of the letter can be found HERE.