State child tax credit would ease burden on Connecticut families

When my wife and I welcomed our first child in the fall of 2019, we were nervous about being first-time parents, but we were confident that we had the resources to provide for our newborn son. Unfortunately, far too many Connecticut parents do not have that same confidence, and that is why I’m reintroducing legislation creating a state child tax credit.

The cost of raising a child is an incredible and growing burden on workingand middle-class families here in Connecticut. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average annual cost of infant care in our state is $15,501, or $1,292 per month. That represents nearly 20 percent of a median family’s income in Connecticut, or nearly 75 percent of a minimum wage worker’s income.

The cost is even higher for families with more than one child. The cost of caring for two children — one infant and one toddler — costs an average of $28,232. Measured another way, the cost of caring for two children is 51 percent more than the average rent in our state.

And that’s just child care. Once you factor in food, formula, diapers, wipes and clothes it’s easy to see how childrelated costs dominate the household budgets of growing families regardless of their income.

These costs even prompt some parents to consider whether they’d be better off caring for their children full-time instead of working. That impossible choice and burden, which falls disproportionately on women and specifically women of color, has obvious short- and long-term negative ramifications for the parent leaving the workforce.

A child tax credit could dramatically help alleviate the high cost of raising a child, keep people in the workforce and dramatically reduce child poverty, and we know that because we’ve already seen it work at the federal level.

The United States has had a federal child tax credit since 1998. In the nearly 25 years since taking effect, the credit has helped millions of Americans but has also left millions of Americans behind. That’s because the credit has never been fully refundable, which means that the lowest-income families — those who need it most — don’t qualify because they often owe little to no federal tax.

The good news for families is that President Biden’s recently passed stimulus bill features a provision long championed by my Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro that not only makes the tax credit fully refundable but also expands the credit from $2,000 to $3,000 for children 6 to 17 and to $3,600 per child under the age of 6.

These historic changes are projected to cut the U.S. child poverty rate in half, and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy projects the expanded tax credit will reach 832,500 children here in Connecticut.

The bad news is that this groundbreaking expansion is only temporary and expires next year unless DeLauro and others are successful in making it permanent, which will likely prove challenging given the gridlock in Washington.

That is why we have both an opportunity and responsibility to enact a child tax credit at the state level. As we grapple with the worst health and economic crisis in nearly a century, it’s more important than ever that we meet the moment; by passing our own version of the child tax credit, we can ensure no Connecticut child slides back into poverty once the expanded federal credit expires.

My proposal would give each Connecticut household making less than

$200,000 a year a tax credit up to 30 percent of the federal credit or $600 ($420 of which is refundable) per child up to three children.

That means the average working- and middle-class family with two children making the median income would be able to take up to $1,200 off of their state income tax, which would represent the largest tax cut for working families in Connecticut history.

In the coming weeks, the Legislature will put forward a budget proposal in response to the governor’s proposal that both meets the moment we’re in and lays out a plan to pay for it without taxing those we seek to help with this plan.

It’s been a difficult year for most in our state. Children and families are hurting. By creating a state child tax credit, we can lift tens of thousands of Connecticut children out of poverty and ensure that struggling families in each and every community in our state get a break on their taxes.