Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC) Co-Chair Lori Trahan (MA-03) supported passage of the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024, bipartisan legislation that would expand access to Child Tax Credit benefits, increase the supply of low-income housing, and strengthen research, development, and manufacturing investments being made by small and medium-sized businesses across the Commonwealth.

“Massachusetts families face some of the highest costs of living in the nation, and we need to do everything possible to deliver real relief now. This bipartisan tax relief package builds on the progress made by Governor Healey’s bipartisan tax cuts last year by keeping more money in families’ pockets, incentivizing the construction of affordable housing units, and supporting the creation of good-paying jobs at small and medium-sized businesses across the Commonwealth,” Congresswoman Trahan said. “Passage of this package also sets us up to take full advantage of the tremendous opportunity before us with the creation of the ARPA-H Investor Catalyst Hub and the Northeast Microelectronics Hub, as well as the R&D already happening in places like the Innovation Hub at UMass Lowell, in businesses in Devens, and at facilities across the Third District.”

“I recognize this legislation isn’t perfect,” Congresswoman Trahan continued. “There’s more we need to do to further expand the Child Tax Credit and improve the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit for working families. However, I will always support a bill that helps working families, and that’s what this legislation does – pulling 400,000 children out of poverty nationwide in the first year and benefiting 182,000 children in Massachusetts whose parents currently make too little to qualify for the full Child Tax Credit.”

Trahan has long been a proponent of strengthening the Child Tax Credit, a critical benefit working families depend on, including voting in 2021 to enhance the credit in the American Rescue Plan. Despite the overwhelming success of the enhanced credit, Congressional Republicans refused to work across the aisle to extend the benefit when it sunset at the end of the year. The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 would finally expand Child Tax Credit access to 16 million children in low-income families, including 182,000 children in Massachusetts, who currently receive less than or none of the credit because their families’ incomes are too low. Additionally, in the first year, this expansion will lift an estimated 400,000 children out of poverty nationwide. Organizations supporting the Child Tax Credit provisions of the legislation include United Way, Save the Children, Feeding America, MomsRising, National Education Association, UnidosUS, National Low Income Housing Coalition, Boston Medical Center, Coalition on Human Needs, and Children’s HealthWatch.

While not perfect, the bipartisan legislation passed today is also a critical step toward making Massachusetts more affordable by increasing the supply of low-income housing. The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 strengthens the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which leverages public-private partnerships to grow the number of affordable housing units to lower income families, by increasing state allocations and reducing the tax-exempt bond financing requirement. Trahan plans to continue advocating for additional improvements to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, including further prioritizing extremely low-income families and those experiencing homelessness.

The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 also incentivizes private sector investment in research, development, and manufacturing, which will benefit small and medium-sized businesses in Massachusetts that are working on cutting edge projects in a wide range of industries like health care, biotechnology, microelectronics, clean energy, and more. Specifically, the legislation will allow businesses to deduct the cost of their U.S.-based research and development investments and expense investments in machines and equipment necessary to operate and grow. The Third District is home to small and medium-sized businesses investing heavily in R&D and manufacturing, including at the innovation hub at UMass Lowell, in Devens, and beyond.

This additional support for R&D investments is particularly important as Massachusetts stands up the ARPA-H Investor Catalyst Hub and the Northeast Microelectronics Hub funded by the CHIPS and Science Act.

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