Families call for return of Expanded Child Tax Credit

Even before the pandemic, Trumansburg school nurse Julie Carpenter had noticed that parents were increasingly relying on the village’s food pantry and other social services to get by. So, when Congress passed the Expanded Child Tax Credit (whitehouse.gov/child-tax-credit/) program over a year into the pandemic, Carpenter saw how helpful $250 to $300 a month (per child) was to Trumansburg’s parents and their children.

The Expanded Child Tax Credit began in July 2021, reached 61 million American children (tinyurl.com/yaf79g67) and had immediate effects — in 2021, child poverty in America fell by 46% (tinyurl.com/2zkb4jzk). However, that December, Congress ended the program.

“Money works better than handouts of food,” Carpenter said. “It makes families feel valued. Everybody deserves to have their basic needs met, and this was a very easy and affirming way to do it. To go backwards was absolutely abominable.”

The Expanded Child Tax Credit was a major help for Danny Trippett, his wife and their two kids, who have lived in Trumansburg since 2013. Because Trippett’s family benefits from the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (also called WIC), the Expanded Child Tax Credit allowed them to focus on getting their children car seats, beds and bouncers. Trippett was frustrated when the program ended.

“It was a very benevolent program,” Trippett said. “It was positive thinking, proactive, and it helped families, especially growing families. And to have them suddenly be like, ‘Oh yeah, that doesn’t matter anymore’ was disheartening.”

Trippett’s story is a familiar one. Of the families that received the Extended Child Tax Credit, 60% (tinyurl.com/2jej6dal) struggled to make ends meet when the program ended. The Center for Law and Social Policy found that much of the money from the payments was being used for groceries, bills and clothes. However, despite the program ending a year ago, there are discussions in Congress (tinyurl.com/2ohlfpww) about bringing the program back in the coming months.

“I was impressed that it was acted on in the first place,” Carpenter said. “When I heard that it could possibly be reinstated, I was also impressed.”

Carpenter said the Trumansburg School District has benefited from grant-based programs to support children. However, access to these programs remains a problem for families. Carpenter said the lack of complexities in the Expanded Child Tax Credit cut through the issues of accessibility, as the $250 to $300 in payments were deposited directly to parents’ bank accounts or sent to them through the mail as a check.

“I hope programs like the [Expanded Child Tax Credit] continue to grow because [the grant-based programs] we have are just sort of a scramble,” Carpenter said. “They’re not accessible at all levels of all communities. It would be wonderful if support like [the Expanded Child Tax Credit] was woven into the fabric of everybody’s day-to-day.”

Under the government’s Child Tax Credit program (non-expanded), a loophole meant that families with extremely low income or no taxable income were not eligible, leaving 19 million children (tinyurl.com/2zaowlhc) out of the program. The Expanded Child Tax Credit closed that loophole, but now that it’s ended, those 19 million children are once again ineligible.

The Expanded Child Tax Credit program was particularly important to rural and semi-rural areas like Trumansburg, where poverty rates are higher (tinyurl.com/2jjczv4v).

Hayley Owens said the program helped her and her husband feel more financially stable when taking care of their two kids. While her husband kept his job during the pandemic, Owens was working less, as she runs a cleaning business in Trumansburg that requires her to enter other people’s homes.

“We would have been able to put food on the table without [the Expanded Child Tax Credit], but it would have been much tighter,” Owens said. “We used it for gas, groceries and bills. It helped us fill our propane tank, which is very expensive. It really just filled any void and allowed us to feel secure.”

Carpenter said the security that the program offered for parents took some pressure off Trumansburg Central School District, which she believes is not fully equipped for current community health demands.

“Taking it away logically significantly increases the demands placed on myself and other people working at a community level,” Carpenter said. “I think that while schools are a large component of community health, I don’t think they’re necessarily designed at this time in this country for solving the health and wellness problems of the entire community.”

In the United States, more than 20% of children (tinyurl.com/yybxqwj5) live in poverty, which is higher than all other wealthy nations. Trippett said for families like his, bringing back the Extended Child Tax Credit is a way to make ends meet and support children.

“It would be stupendous,” Trippett said. “It was something that helped keep families like ours in New York state. We are trying to provide our children with a good environment here that they can look back [on] and feel safe and secure and happy. Having the tax credit helps us financially fulfill that purpose.”

Trumansburg Connection appears every Wednesday in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com.