The Child Tax Credit (CTC) is an important tool to fight child poverty and help families make ends meet. When designed well, it can also make tax systems less regressive. As of 2020, only six states had CTCs. Today, 15 states have CTCs, with many credits exceeding $1,000 per qualifying child.
This week, we celebrate 50 years of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the impact it's had on millions of workers and families. In 2023 alone, the latest year of available data, the federal EITC alongside the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit lifted 6.4 million people and 3.4 million children out of poverty.