If you build it they will come.
Even if the building is done with one team doing all the work, while the other team seeks to block all efforts.
That applies to conservative Republicans who worked feverishly to block congressional efforts to construct the child tax credit.
But once the heavy lifting was done, and the measure signed into law by President Biden, we find that the states in the nation which are most benefiting from it are those which voted for Donald Trump in 2020.
The tax credit can be summed up with one word.
Popular.
As part of a COVID relief package that Congress passed in March, qualified families began receiving monthly payments from the federal government in July ranging from $300 for children under age 6 and $250 for children under age 18.
The current expanded tax credit has proven a policy favorite across the land. Regardless of party.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found the credit supported by 59% of U.S. adults including 75% of people who identified themselves as Democrats and 41% of people who identified as Republicans.
The top 10 states by average monthly child tax credit payments in August — all from the West and Midwest — were: Utah, Idaho, South Dakota, Alaska, Nebraska, Wyoming, North Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, and Montana, with monthly payments ranging from $515 to $456 in August. Again, all states that voted for Trump.
The conservative state of Utah, which is also the nation’s youngest state home to large families, averaged the highest monthly payment of all at $515.
With the broad support for the policy there is now a very concerted effort underway to extend the credit which is part of the President’s $3.5 trillion spending package.
So while the GOP will not give Biden credit for darn near anything they will gladly reap the cash rewards for the hard work his administration has done to create stronger families in the nation.
The reason Democrats can make the claim for strengthening the foundation of families is based on data. Researchers at Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy are estimating that Biden’s new credit will cut childhood poverty by 45%. The IRS has estimated that 39 million families and 65 million children will benefit under this plan.
In the world of blue-collar politics, we call this a middle-class tax cut.
One that even Republicans have embraced.
And so it goes.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 