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January 11, 2024

Tax Credit Nation — Politicians Are Casting New Spending As ‘Tax Cuts,’ Hiding Their True Cost

With the national debt soaring past $34 trillion, liberal politicians hoping to expand the federal leviathan face a conundrum. How can they convince Americans wary of the effects of runaway government spending—painfully evident in recent elevated inflation and interest rates—to nonetheless support even greater expenditures? As President Biden and others demonstrate, one way is to cast new…

By Matt Weidinger

January 10, 2024

Even Congress’s “Tax Extenders” Are About More Benefits

Congress’s long list of unfinished business for the new year includes “tax extender” legislation, which is normally considered before lawmakers adjourn for the holidays in December. The fact that this legislation has lingered into January isn’t the only oddity. In an era of already rapidly rising spending, the more troubling anomaly is much of that supposed…

By Matt Weidinger

January 9, 2024

Let’s Expand the Child Tax Credit a Little Bit

A bipartisan group of senators is trying to hash out a deal on extending some of the Republican tax cuts from 2017. If Congress does nothing, the child tax credit will drop down to $1,000 per child from its current level of $2,000. Some lawmakers want to expand the child tax credit massively. Others don’t. There’s a middle course that involves moderately growing…

By Timothy Carney

November 14, 2023

Did Child Poverty Really Increase Last Year?

In 2021, Democrats succeeded in temporarily expanding the child tax credit (CTC) as part of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan. Previously, the maximum CTC of $2,000 per child was available only to workers with income tax liability and who exceeded an earnings threshold. The expansion gave every family $3,000 per child—$3,600 for younger children—regardless of whether…

By Scott Winship

October 25, 2023

Dispelling Myths About The Child Tax Credit

Every culture has its famous myths, such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster, and the world of politics is no different. Take, for example, President Joe Biden’s claims that he is a unifier or that ” Bidenomics” is working . The president offered another mythical claim last month when he said that “we cut child poverty by nearly half ……

By Matt Weidinger

October 23, 2023

A Carbon Tax to Finance Child Tax Credit Expansion

A carbon tax is considered by most economists to be the most efficient and effective way to reduce carbon emissions. However, a long-standing political challenge to a carbon tax is the perception that it would disproportionately burden low- and middle-income households relative to high-income households. Many analysts and lawmakers have proposed using carbon tax revenues…

By Kyle Pomerleau | Shuting Pomerleau

August 14, 2023

Tracking Plans to Make Pandemic Benefit Expansions Permanent

In 2008, former White House Chief of Staff and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel famously said what has come to be known as Rahm’s rule: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that [is] it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” It’s clear that…

By Matt Weidinger

August 9, 2023

The CTC Work Incentive Works

The expiration of the American Rescue Plan Act at the end of 2021 brought with it the end of the fully refundable Child Tax Credit (CTC). The CTC has since returned to its pre-pandemic form, phasing-in at 15 percent of earnings beyond $2,500, up to a maximum of $1,600 in a refundable CTC per child…

By Angela Rachidi | Thomas O'Rourke

July 17, 2023

Testimony: The Child Tax Credit: 25 Years Later

Chairman Bennet, Ranking Member Thune, and subcommittee members, thank you for theopportunity to testify. My name is Angela Rachidi and I am a Senior Fellow on poverty andopportunity at the American Enterprise Institute. Before I joined AEI, I was a DeputyCommissioner for the New York City Department of Social Services, where for more than a…

By Angela Rachidi

July 17, 2023

Testimony: Correcting the Record on the Effects of Replacing the Child Tax Credit with a Child Allowance

Chairman Bennet, Ranking Member Thune, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee onTaxation and IRS Oversight, thank you for the opportunity to testify on the Child Tax Credit(CTC). My name is Kevin Corinth, and I am a Senior Fellow and the Deputy Director of theCenter on Opportunity and Social Mobility at the American Enterprise Institute. This…

By Kevin Corinth