SaverLife Reflects on 1-Year Anniversary of First CTC Payment

One year ago, millions of families nationwide received groundbreaking financial support in the form of the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC). The CTC helped parents and guardians pay for groceries, rent, and utilities; build rainy day funds; and save for their children’s futures. 

At SaverLife, we believe that investing in families means investing in the future. If the expanded Child Tax Credit were made permanent, almost 75% of parents would choose to invest in their children’s education, creating a strong foundation for economic mobility. 

Unfortunately, political differences have prevented Congress from implementing the expanded CTC as a permanent program. SaverLife now calls on members of Congress and the White House to put aside partisan differences and build better financial outcomes for millions of families.

In 2021, we saw how the CTC can lift families living with low incomes out of poverty. Our research proved that CTC payments helped parents and guardians bolster their finances and maintain stable savings balances. SaverLife member Rhiannon described that the CTC set up her daughter for early success in school:

“I was able to afford new clothes for my daughter when she started kindergarten. Having the payments now… has helped a lot with paying for childcare which is super expensive.”

The expanded CTC was a massive win for the SaverLife community of more than 600,000 members, and we’re proud of the work we completed alongside our colleagues at Aspen Financial Security Program, Commonwealth, Economic Security Project, Propel, and many others. To summarize the success of the CTC, SaverLife CEO, Leigh Phillips, concludes that “The expansion of the Child Tax Credit is the most effective, poverty-fighting effort the federal government has launched in a long time.”

As SaverLife marks the one-year anniversary of the first monthly CTC payment, we say to members of Congress: Please do not let America’s most vulnerable children down.