The End of the Child Tax Credit Is Putting a Strain on Florida Families

Senate Democrats are advocating for extending this incentive and say it represents the opportunity for many families to get out of poverty.

A group of Senate Democrats sent a letter to President Joe Biden, urging him to keep the expanded child tax credit payment in the $2 trillion Build Back Better plan that has stalled in the Senate.

The senators, led by Michael Bennet of Colorado, said the credit families received from July to December of 2021, reduced child poverty by more than 40% and kept an estimated 3.7 million children out of poverty. 

“Without the expanded credit, nearly 10 million children will be thrown back into or deeper into poverty this winter, increasing the monthly child poverty rate from roughly 12% to at least 17%. Raising taxes on working families is the last thing we should do during a pandemic,” the senators wrote.

The child tax credit was expanded by Democrats in early 2021, as part of a coronavirus relief package, allowing for low- and middle-income to receive up to $3,000 for every child ages 6 to 17 and $3,600 for every child under age 6.

Florida organizations like Annie E. Casey Foundation are raising a flag because of the effect that the end of the tax will have on families in the state. Norín Dollard, director of Kids Count, a project of the foundation, said the tax credit payments were working as intended. “Families [were] using them for childcare, school supplies, for putting food on the table, paying rent,” Dollard told WUSF.

The situation is even harder for Florida’s families, because of the drastic rise in rent and home prices. That’s why local lawmakers have urged Gov. Ron DeSantis, to declare a state of emergency for affordable housing to protect low-income families, a request that has not been addressed.