State Child Tax Credits have potential to cut child poverty
“In 2021, state and local governments saw how the federal Child Tax Credit expansion improved the lives of their constituents by bolstering family income and reducing poverty, food insecurity, and financial hardship…This report shows that state governments have an opportunity to achieve the same outcomes by establishing robust and thoughtfully-designed state Child Tax Credits.”
A new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University details state options on how to use Child Tax Credits to dramatically reduce child poverty. This report outlines key policy design principles that will help lawmakers, advocates and other stakeholders understand how to reduce poverty through well-designed, effective and inclusive state Child Tax Credits.
Extending the federal policy would provide the broadest poverty reduction across the country, but states can also play an important role in building on the success of the credit. Heading into 2023, ten states currently have some form of a Child Tax Credit and many others are considering one. Child Tax Credits have enormous benefits for states, with great potential to significantly reduce child poverty in all states while also addressing economic and racial inequities that are too often made worse by regressive state taxation.
This report was authored by Sophie Collyer, Megan Curran, Aidan Davis, David Harris and Christopher Wimer and conducted by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University on behalf of Share Our Strength.
