The Monthly Child Tax Credit is Crucial for Impoverished Children
The Monthly Child Tax Credit is Crucial for Impoverished Children
Covid-19 did not only impact the lives of many adults but also pushed endless families into poverty. According to UNICEF.org, “The number of children living in multidimensional poverty – without access to education, health, housing, nutrition, sanitation or water – soared to approximately 1.2 billion in 2020, while an estimated additional 100 million children were projected to have fallen into multidimensional poverty in 2021.”
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Washington D.C. Residents join a rally in front of the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 13th, 2021, CNBC.com
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused many economic issues to occur, which include but are not limited to, the loss of jobs, the lowering of wages, and the inflation of prices for everyday necessities. All of these things have caused the percentage of children and families in poverty to rise dramatically.
Children living in poverty are more likely to have lower grade averages, have problems with their behavior, and have problems developing socially and emotionally. Children also are often more stressed than children in financially stable homes which can lead to numerous health problems, including adverse changes in their cardiovascular and immune systems as expressed by Lauren Fasig Caldwell. In addition, according to the children’s bureau, children raised in poverty are more likely to raise their children in poverty. This creates a cycle of impoverished children that needs to be broken, and we have the resources to do so.
In March 2020, the government implemented multiple acts to aid those families in financial need including the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan, and The Child Tax Credit was increased as stated by Patricia Jones. The Child Tax Credit allowed parents and guardians to receive monthly checks to help with bills, groceries, and other basic needs for themselves and their children. They did not have to worry about whether or not they could afford to feed themselves or their children each month. This made is easier for them to give their attention to other important issues like paying off debt, or using the extra money to pay rent on time to prevent eviction.
Some argue that these laws should have been enough to get families back on their feet. However, these acts were temporary fixes that have since ended, which sent families back into poverty. Starting in January of 2022, the Child Tax Credit stopped being distributed monthly and returned to only being distributed once a year around tax season. According to the Columbia University Poverty Center, there are “37 million more children in poverty in Jan 2022 without monthly Child Tax Credit.” Since it has stopped being distributed monthly, more and more families are going back into poverty. This is precisely what the Child Tax Credit was created to prevent, however, it is now putting families back in poverty where they started.
Anothers claim against the monthly distribution of money from the Child Tax Credit is that it will incentivize parents not to work, as stated by Maureen Bowling. However, this is disproved by data collected by the U.S Beureu of Labor Statistics. As seen in the graph below, the number of individuals that were unemployed decreased and the number of individuals that were employed increased in the time that the Child Tax Credit was distributed monthly.
Without the Child Tax Credit, individuals had to rely on other means of extra income to make ends meet, so they would file for unemployment to be able to support their children. In addition, due to inflation and the low federal minimum wage, individuals were not able to provide for their children with their paychecks alone. According to Carey Nadeau and Dr. Amy K. Glasmeier, a family cannot survive on minimum wage alone. Each working adult in the family would have to have two minimum wage jobs and work over 77 hours each week to earn a living wage. In addition, they state that, "A single parent with two children needs to work the equivalent of three and one half full-time jobs (139 hours per work week), more hours than there are in five days, to earn the living wage on a minimum wage income."
However, with the monthly checks, parents and guardians are able to return to work knowing that they will be able to supply their children with their basic necessities. So, by taking away the monthly distribution of the Child Tax Credit not only are more children and families at risk of becoming impoverished there is also an increased chance that unemployment rates will also increase.
As stated by Carmen Reinicke of CNBC.com, “10 million children will fall back into poverty when the enhanced child tax credit ends.” If the Child Tax Credit is not distributed monthly like it was during the Covid-19 pandemic more children are at risk of becoming impoverished. Children who grow up in poverty are often food insecure, more stressed, and have a harder time excelling in school. How are children in America supposed to succeed and become active citizens in our country if we cannot even provide them with their basic needs. We can solve this issue by enhancing the Chid Tax Credit and return to distributing it monthly instead of only once a year.
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