Historic Drop in Child Poverty at Risk Due to Manchin’s Tanking of Key Tax Credit
New U.S. Census Bureau figures published Tuesday show the boosted Child Tax Credit that congressional Democrats enacted last year helped fuel a major plunge in child poverty—historic progress that is now under threat thanks to Sen. Joe Manchin’s opposition to keeping the program running in 2022 and beyond.
According to federal data, child poverty fell from 9.7% in 2020 to a record low 5.2% last year, a decline that the Census Bureau attributed largely to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion approved under the American Rescue Plan. Stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment benefits also played a role in cutting poverty among children and the U.S. population overall in 2021.
“The Child Tax Credit is our most effective tax tool for reducing childhood poverty,” the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) said in response to the Census Bureau report. “Congress should make the 2021 CTC expansion permanent and protect America’s children.”
At the end of last year, the CTC program reverted to its previous, more exclusionary, and less generous form after Manchin—who represents one of the poorest states in the U.S.—and congressional Republicans refused to support proposals to extend the boosted payments.
Many vulnerable families that benefited from the enhanced credits immediately felt the impact of the cut-off: In January, according to one measure, the child poverty rate increased by 41%—rising from 12.1% to 17% among the population—pushing nearly 4 million kids into poverty, an indication that last year’s gains could be wiped out in 2022.
“If the Child Tax Credit expansion had not expired at the end of 2021, it would have continued to push down poverty among children this year and beyond, even as other relief measures phase out,” noted Danilo Leandro Trisi, director of poverty and inequality research at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “Policymakers should pursue opportunities this year to stave off a sharp rise in child poverty by expanding the Child Tax Credit.”
With Manchin and the GOP opposed to expanding the poverty-slashing credit, it’s unclear whether there’s a viable legislative path for even a short-term extension of the program ahead of the November midterms.
Originally published at Commondreams.org.
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