Child tax credit update, which could cut child poverty rate in half, is a 'big deal' to many rural residents - Entrepreneur Generations

In a legendary hot-mic moment in 2010, then-Vice President Joe Biden remarked to President Obama that the passage of the Affordable Care Act was a "big f----ing deal." The same might be said for the child tax credit update in the newly inked $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, according to some rural Southeastern Kentucky residents, Linda Blackford writes in an op-ed for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"It is such a big deal ... it’s making me want to cry," Gwen Johnson, a bakery owner in Letcher County, told Blackford. "A rising tide lifts everybody, and this will enable families to do things they’ve not been able to do before, so they can live a little better." Nearly 50 percent of children in Letcher County live in poverty.

A Columbia University study found that the tax credit, if made permanent, could cut the nation's child poverty rate in half, Blackford reports. The provision increases the child tax credit from the current $2,000 per child to $3,000 for each child 6 to 17 and $3,600 for those under age 6. More low-income parents can take advantage of it since it's now fully refundable, and the payments will likely be available as soon as July, and could be distributed monthly rather than as a lump sum.

Dee Davis, director of the Center for Rural Strategies in Whitesburg, said the new law will make a big difference for Kentucky's long-standing child poverty problem. "It’s crazy, you can’t justify it, but nothing ever happens," he told Blackford. "Then all of sudden in 50 days, Biden passes a law that will cut child poverty in half in counties that voted against him four to one. That’s all the social math in the world right there. It changes the horizons these kids can look to, it changes what’s possible for the families. It changes everything."

Though no Kentucky Republicans in Congress voted for the American Rescue Plan, Blackford doubts voters in deep-red Southeastern Kentucky will penalize them much, since "cultural issues like abortion or gay marriage" are usually ascendent. However, she writes, the new package could move the needle in the long run, and it highlights a stark contrast in the two parties' governing styles—and how effective they are.

"Republicans prefer top down aid, like tax cuts for rich people, which have been their modus operandi for 40 years, the trickle-down economics that have created the greatest income inequality since the Gilded Age. According to an analysis by the Washington Post, the last round of tax cuts in 2017 accrued the most benefits for the top 1 percent, while the American Rescue Plan will give the most benefits to the lowest income quintile," Blackford writes. "Of course, some of the money may get spent unwisely, and on the other hand, no it’s not enough. We still need to address other issues like raising the minimum wage and forgiving some college debt. But like the pandemic, this new benefit has the power to show why government can do good and help people, especially the most vulnerable ones."

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/3vCOleG Child tax credit update, which could cut child poverty rate in half, is a 'big deal' to many rural residents - Entrepreneur Generations

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