Preparing for Zion: Extend Increased Child Tax Credit

On July 15, 2021, the first monthly payments based on the increased Child Tax Credit went out to eligible parents under the American Rescue Plan Act, signed into law by President Biden last March as an attempt to alleviate the suffering caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. These payments involve up to $3,000 per year per child, depending on age and parental income. Commentators such as Columbia University's Center on Poverty and Social Policy and the Children's Defense Fund have predicted that these cash payments could decrease child poverty in the United States by almost half.  As Latter-day Saints, we look forward to the establishment of Zion, when there will be no poor among us (see 4 Nephi 1:3). Joseph Smith taught, "We ought to have the building up of Zion as our greatest object" (Joseph Smith, Teachings, 160). One thing we can do today to move in that direction is to convince Congress to make the monthly, increased Child Tax Credit  payments a permanent part of U.S. support for children, instead of letting them expire in 2022 as the law currently provides.