Series

Low-Income Families with Children and The Reconciliation Debate

This series analyzes how tax and benefit policy debates surrounding Congress’s emerging reconciliation bill affect low-income families with children. In today’s polarized political environment, unilateral changes made via party-line reconciliation procedures may become the primary way large-scale policy changes are enacted. Decisions made in the next few months could last decades.

Rather than assessing the reconciliation package as a whole, this series focuses on the specific policies and debates that matter most for children in low-income households. Reforms to the Child Tax Credit are a central component of the debate. Key questions remain unsettled: Should the credit be expanded? If so, will the benefits reach low-income families? There have been some signs of support for expanding the CTC for lower-income families, but other indicators have been less favorable. Additional provisions also warrant attention. Will proposals around no tax on tips, car interest, overtime, and social security help low-income families? And will any increases to tax benefits be offset by cuts to other safety net supports? This series offers a close examination of how key debates and evolving provisions in the reconciliation bill could either alleviate or deepen poverty among children in low-income households.

In This Series


Part 1

Correcting the Record on Child Tax Credit Compliance Concerns

"There is strong evidence that most incorrect CTC payments are benign errors—the bulk of incorrect claims come from close family members or others living with the child."

Part 2

Without Improvements to Refundability, any Child Tax Credit Expansion Cannot Benefit Low-Income Working Families

"Refundability is the key mechanism for a CTC expansion to benefit low-income working families."

Part 3

EITC Certificates: How a Certification Mandate Would Function like a Universal Audit 

"If all EITC recipients claiming children must comply with audit procedures to receive a certificate, they will effectively be audited over 200 times the rate of other taxpayers."

Part 4

Tax Provisions of the House-passed ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’: Impact on Low-Income Families with Children

"The limited reach of OBBB’s CTC expansion appears poorly understood."

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