Bring back the expanded child tax credit, a lifeline for families

I’m a stay-at-home mom with lupus living in Rexburg, Idaho. My oldest is entering college next year, and I have three small kids I raise. My husband works at Byu-idaho. We are solidly middle class; we have enough for groceries but not for vacations or college. Money is always stressful in our home as I try to be frugal and buy quality products — for Christmas, my kids are getting Black Friday shoes that they’ll grow into next year.

In the past, the child tax credit (CTC) enabled our family to buy a swing set and appliances locally, buy clothes on sale in future sizes for my small kids, and pay medical bills. I’m nervous about what we’ll do over the next few years if we won’t be able to help our oldest with college, or if we have an unexpected medical bill, or if our furnace starts to go out — or if all three happen at once!

An expanded CTC could relieve a lot of stress in my family’s life. I get very frustrated when I hear that legislators are against the CTC because they think people will spend it on alcohol or drugs. My personal experience and that of so many other families shows otherwise.

The child tax credit encourages compassionate policy while supporting selfsufficiency and employment that would benefit hardworking families like mine. I’m grateful that both of our most recent presidents and legislative members of both parties have supported expanding the CTC. We need more members of Congress working together to solve real problems that families are facing.

The expanded CTC works not only to relieve the economic squeeze on the middle class but also to lift families out of poverty. As part of the COVID aid package in 2021, Congress expanded the child tax credit and even made the full amount available to families with tax bills too low to take advantage of the usual credit. Sometimes people think lower-income people shouldn’t get extra help because they “aren’t paying taxes,” but we are paying taxes: sales tax, property tax, (even renters), state income tax, SSI and Medicare, etc.

The CTC cut the child poverty rate for these taxpayers in half from 2020 to 2021. The Census Bureau estimated that the expanded CTC lifted 5.3 million people, including 2.9 million children, out of poverty.

Policymakers from both parties have acknowledged that families have better outcomes when money is put back in their pockets. The CTC was first proposed by the Reagan administration and has since enjoyed bipartisan support. Child tax credits have been improved and increased by every president and Congress, regardless of their political party. Permanently expanding the CTC is an important and costeffective policy that supports American families at all income levels while also encouraging employment. Not only does it reduce child poverty and suffering now, but it also supports a better future for our children.

After Congress failed to pass the CTC last year, the child poverty rate climbed back up and 19 million children in lowincome families were again left ineligible for the full tax credit because their parents’ income was too low to qualify for it. Unfortunately, the impact didn’t stop there because inflation came and squeezed all of us, and those pressures are felt the most by folks near the bottom. Negotiations are underway to reinstate some provisions of the expanded tax credit and again make it fully refundable to support children and parents across society. If appropriately coordinated with other welfare, Social Security and public health benefits, this tax policy can sustain families while also having the potential to streamline the scope of the federal government.

As I was driving my kids to their activities recently, I thought about what would happen if my family had a few hundred extra dollars per month. It would decrease our stress and increase my mental and physical health exponentially. I could be a better and more present parent and have more time to donate to my community.

I hope I can count on my representatives to work together for hard-working families like mine. The child tax credit reduces child poverty, grows the economy, and helps send kids to college. This blesses American lives. It’s a critical, family-friendly policy, and I urge our elected representatives to include the expanded CTC in the tax package that is currently being debated in Congress. It’s hard to see people who don’t have to worry about being able to afford groceries receiving all the benefits of the tax system. Nothing is trickling down … please help.

Kristine Anderson is a member of Mormon Women for Ethical Government. She has an accounting degree from Byu-idaho and is a busy parent of four children in Rexburg. She wrote this for The Idaho Statesman.