Norristown, Pennsylvania — If anyone knows how expensive it is to raise a child, it’s Raegen Selden, an office manager in Norristown, Pennsylvania. She has raised six children ranging in age from 12 to 25.
“I have two sons who are hungry every second, every minute of the day,” Selden said. “I have daughters who would like to think they’re eating delicacies, but they’re not.”
Her family has always relied on the federal child tax credit, created in 1997, to help make ends meet. During the pandemic, the credit was temporarily increased from $2,000 to $3,000 per child, and up to $3,600 for families with children under 6.
This measure helped reduce child poverty in the United States by 46%, according to a 2022 report from the United States Census Bureau.
“You still had to pay bills and buy things,” Selden said. “And it was comforting to know you had that extra income.”
According to a 2022 report from the Brookings Institution, it costs about $310,000 to raise a child from birth to age 18. One of the few things both presidential candidates agree on is that the child tax credit should be significantly expanded.
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign propose an annual tax credit of $5,000 per child. Vice President Kamala Harris propose a credit of up to $3,600 per child, with an increase to $6,000 for newborns.
Trump wants the credit to be available to all families, regardless of income, while Harris would limit it to low- and middle-income families. She would also make the credit “refundable,” meaning even parents who don’t pay taxes could get the credit in cash.
“This is a really exciting time,” Melissa Kearney, an economics professor at the University of Maryland, told CBS News. “… We have tons of evidence that supplementing the income of low-income families with children actually improves the lives of these kids. We see that they do better in school. Their health improves in ways that last into adulthood.”
Cost has always been a sore point. A bill to expand credit failed in the Senate last month.
Selden believes parents should get a child tax credit because their children “take care of our future.”
“We want them to grow up to be great, productive citizens of this country,” she added. “And that’s impossible if they don’t know how to eat.”
Nancy Cordes
