“If we’re going to do anything like this, we need to ensure it’s affordable. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, told CT Examiner that the state should tackle rising costs through measures like indexing the tax brackets to inflation and maintaining the earned income tax credit increase that the legislature passed last year.
Several legislators also spoke against Looney’s proposals. That cuts the money available for all government programs,” warned Carol Platt Liebau, president of Yankee Institute, a right-wing public policy institute. Many who spoke in favor of the child tax credit also supported a capital gains surcharge - also proposed by Looney - that would place an extra 1 percent tax on the highest income earners in the state, and would place a 0.75 percent tax on the second-highest tier of earners, for any income earned through selling stocks or real estate.īut some people who testified at the public hearing said they feared the increase would drive wealthy residents out of the state. The credit is estimated to cost about $300 million, which Looney said would need to be recouped through an increase in state income tax revenue. United Way data shows that the proposed tax credit would benefit 94 percent of families with children in New London, more than 80 percent of families in Groton and Norwich, and more than 60 percent of families in Old Saybrook, Old Lyme, Stonington, Westbrook and East Lyme. “Legislators will debate, do they put more money into food assistance or do they put more money into diaper banks? But it’s … increasingly well-understood the most powerful thing you can do is to give someone money, so that they can spend the money on what they need most,” Tepper Bates said. In addition to the loss of the federal child tax credit, United Way CEO Lisa Tepper Bates said the expiration of emergency funds for rental assistance and SNAP benefits, and the rising costs of food, utilities and rent have put pressure on families. United Way estimated that the amount of money that a family of four needs to survive in Connecticut rose by 18 percent from 2021 to 2023, from $106,500 to $126,000 annually. “Income tax time was one of my favorite times of the year because it’s when I was able to file my taxes in hopes of a good return to be able to pay down some of my credit card debt,” she said. To manage household emergencies and cover doctor’s visits for her children, she said she’s resorted to using her credit card. New Britain mom Jessica Vargas said her income placed her just above the threshold for receiving significant public assistance. Recently, I put off paying my cellphone bill so that I could sign my son up for basketball.” “There have been many days where I’ve struggled to find groceries or put gas in my car. “I’m trying to provide for a child’s needs in a household while barely earning a living wage,” she said. Jessica Chubbuck, a single mom who works for a nonprofit in Meriden, said Wednesday that a $600 tax credit would allow her to enroll her son in summer camp.
Kate Farrar, D-West Hartford, said during a news conference on Wednesday that over 80 percent of eligible families in the state applied for the offer. In 2022, the state Legislature passed a law permitting families to seek a $250 rebate for each child, up to a maximum of three children. “We need to move in that direction in the absence of the federal government’s willingness to do so,” Looney said.
But in 2022, the rate climbed 12.4 percent, an increase of 5.2 million children living in poverty nationwide. The push for a state child tax credit began in 2021, after the federal child tax credit of $3,000 per child instituted during the pandemic lapsed.Īccording to data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute, child poverty across the country dropped 5.2 percent in 2021, in large part due to the child tax credit. Martin Looney, D-New Haven, the bill’s main author, during a public hearing in Hartford on Wednesday. “This proposal would go a long way in providing tax relief for working families in Connecticut as a companion to our state earned income tax credit,” said State Sen. Single adults making up to $100,000 and couples making up to $200,000 would be eligible for the credit. HARTFORD - Democratic legislators, union representatives and nonprofits are pushing for an annual payment to Connecticut families with children.Ī state Senate bill proposes a $50 tax credit per child beginning in July, increasing up to $600 per child over the next four years.