The Fiscal Hawks Are Wrong on the Child Tax Credit
No, expanding the program to help pull around half a million children out of poverty wouldn’t add to inflation. The data proves it.
Lifting children out of poverty is good for the economy, not inflationary.
Photographer: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
As soon as details emerged on a pending deal among US lawmakers to expand the child tax credit the fiscal hawks started squawking that the added cost of funding the program would only further fan inflation. The only problem for them is that the data say otherwise.
The bi-partisan proposal includes, along with other tax cuts, a more generous child tax credit that would cost $34 billion over three years. It aims to help children who do not receive the full credit from the existing program. About 16 million children would receive more money and lift almost half a million out of poverty.