Don’t Resurrect the Democrats’ Child Allowance
These days, Democrat strategy seems to be to repeat a lie until it’s accepted as truth.
Case in point: their calling the pandemic-era child allowance a tax credit.
That label is clearly false, but most mainstream pundits — and even some Republicans — have accepted it.
Just look at the recent reporting showing that some conservatives see the expanded "child tax credit" as a "bargaining chip that we can use."
The policy in question is a provision of the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan that gave parents up to $300 a month for every child in their household.
No work requirement. No real verification of any kind. Just cash. As I said in The Wall Street Journal (Aug. 13, 2021), this was "wealth redistribution" plain and simple and the left’s "first step toward a universal basic income."
This government child allowance — let’s call it what it is — stands in stark contrast to the real child tax credit, which supports families by allowing working parents to keep more of their hard-earned income.
This honors parents for raising the next generation, and it delivers real support to families without recreating the broken cash welfare system that existed before the 1996 reforms.
We need a generous child tax credit to help families as they struggle to keep up with rising costs.
Economist Oren Cass finds a typical male worker in 1985 could cover basic necessities (food, housing, healthcare, transportation, and education) for a family of four with 40 weeks of wages.
Today, those same necessities cost 62 weeks of wages.
Yes, you read that right.
There are only 52 weeks in a year, which means families are falling further behind every year.
That is why Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and I worked with then-President Donald Trump to double the child tax credit for working families in 2017.
We took heat from many in our own establishment for doing so, but it was worth the fight to show that Republicans could be both pro-family and pro-work.
Tax return data proves our approach cut taxes for millions of working families and strengthened employment.
The takeaway is clear.
Washington should support families financially, but always in a way that safeguards the dignity of work and protects citizens from toxic dependency on government benefits.
My proposal to expand the maximum annual child tax credit to $3,500 ($4,500 for children under six) would do just that. Congress should support families by passing this common-sense reform as we approach the expiration of the 2017 tax reforms in 2025.
But Congress should stay as far away as possible from resurrecting the pandemic-era handouts. Not only did the child allowance benefit non-workers most, it also contributed to inflation, which continues to hammer working families.
Bringing back this scheme would discourage work, trap more people in a cycle of poverty, amplify inflation, and add $105 billion to our national debt every year.
Finally, let’s not forget that the child allowance was widely unpopular, which is why Democrats didn’t even bother extending it before losing control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022.
Those hoping to smooth things over by falsely rebranding the provision as a tax credit do no good for themselves, their party, or the country.
Republicans deserve to lose if we buy into our own opponents’ messaging.
If we want to be both pro-family and pro-work, there is a tried and true blueprint for success. We should increase the real child tax credit for working families. The Biden administration’s trial run of a universal basic income, on the other hand, should stay dead.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is the Sunshine State’s senior U.S. senator, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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