The State of the Child Tax Credit

Since the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) of the American Rescue Plan expired in 2021, the federal government has moved slowly to extend and codify an expanded version. The credit proved to be a remarkable mechanism for providing economic relief to children and the families who raise them. These regular payments helped families afford gas, food, rent, and school expenses …

IRS Direct Filing Tool: The Costs of Complexity

Our tax system can be a means for building and supporting healthy communities, which ultimately supports thriving children. Through distributive methods like tax credits and returns, the tax code houses economic relief for households around the country. Economic empowerment is built through safety nets that may be supplemented by the benefits of tax credits and returns, but only if they …

States Supporting Families with a Child Tax Credit

While the future of an expanded child tax credit (CTC) on the national stage appears murky, states around the country are dutifully writing their own child tax credits into state tax codes. Eleven states have passed legislation to grant qualifying households with dependents direct cash assistance since the temporary expansion of the federal child tax credit ended. The fully refundable, but …

What Happened To The Expanded Child Tax Credit?

The passage of an expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) would have been a practical and proven mechanism for lifting millions of children out of poverty. Congress’s failure to restore and expand the CTC at the end of the 2022 legislative session highlights America’s child-rearing class divide and is harmful to children and the families who raise them. The expansion’s fall …

Economic Empowerment + Abundance

There are numerous avenues to economic empowerment for families, particularly those from systematically disenfranchised and under-resourced communities. How can we talk about measuring economic well-being through the lens of care, justice, and power? And what, exactly, do we mean when we talk about economic empowerment? We use economic empowerment to describe equitably allocating resources to families and communities and ending …

Redistributive Policies + Economic Empowerment

There are numerous avenues to economic empowerment for families, particularly those from systematically disenfranchised and under-resourced communities. Policy solutions, like tax credits and other redistributive policies, that foster liquidity and resources for Black Americans can significantly improve intergenerational economic mobility and mitigate the impacts of long-standing systemic deprivation. At TEP, we are particularly interested in solutions that help Black families …

Economic Empowerment & the Child Tax Credit

There are numerous avenues to economic empowerment for families, particularly those from systematically disenfranchised and under-resourced communities. One particularly relevant avenue is tax credits, a government program that places money in the hands of various groups toward the goal of economic stability and sustainability. Right now, the Child Tax Credit (CTC), a program that could be an invaluable resource to …