My column for the December 5 – December 11 edition of The Tahlequah Christian.
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This week we bring the church budget process to a conclusion with the congregational meeting that will follow our worship service Sunday. This is good news – we have a budget ready for the new year that continues to support our ministries within our congregation and beyond! While this is worth celebrating, I hope you’ll grant me the opportunity to talk about another budget concern – the one that is going on in our nation’s capital.
With the midterm elections creating a shift in power in the House of Representatives in January, we have heard a lot about taxes for the past few weeks – probably more than we ever cared to hear! But in all of the debates over whether to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for everyone or just the middle class, a couple of key provisions in the tax code that are set to expire have been all too conveniently forgotten: the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC).
Bread for the World (www.bread.org), a Christian organization that works with Congress to promote policies to end hunger and eliminate poverty, promotes an “Offering of Letters.” The offering of letters is a call to Christians to write their senators and representatives and urge them support programs that will work to provide opportunity to low income and impoverished families that often times find it difficult to put food on the table – and this year they are working to support the continuation of the Earned Income and Child Tax Credits.
Why does this matter? In 2006 alone, 309,747 Oklahoma households claimed the EITC and received an average of $1,974 per household in tax breaks. In that same year, 192,848 Oklahoma households claimed the CTC for an average break of $1,028 per family unit. For low-income families that live below the national poverty line, $3,000 a year can mean the difference between basic nutrition or a diet of processed foods high in sugars, salts, and other unhealthy additives. Proper diet for a child can mean the difference between a chance at a healthy life or one lived with recurring illness and disease, a problem we see time and again in the poverty of Cherokee County alone.
So you are invited to conspire to make a difference. The Outreach Committee will be sponsoring a letter writing campaign to our senators and representative, encouraging them to support the renewal of the Earned Income and Child Tax Credits. We will set up a computer and printer at the Tasting Party next Sunday evening to allow you to sign a personalized form letter to our elected officials. Or if you would rather give it a truly personal touch – feel free to write your own letters and bring them to the Tasting Party and we will mail them as a collection to our respective officials. But all you have to do is show up and sign your name to make a difference.
I hope you’ll join me and the Outreach Committee in supporting this important tax credit for fighting hunger and poverty!
Your fellow conspirator in the Gospel of Jesus,
Clint
