Press Release Health and Social Programs United States

Calls for Work Requirements to Receive Child Tax Credit are Unfair and Redundant, says CEPR Expert


October 06, 2021

Contact: Karen Conner, 202-281-4159Mail_Outline

Washington DC — In the battle over the Build Back Better Act, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has called for adding work requirements to the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC). In this article, CEPR’s Senior Policy Fellow, Shawn Fremstad vigorously explains why this discriminates against solo parents, not to mention raising children comes with a built-in unpaid work requirement.

“It is abominable and deeply unfair to use a child benefit like the CTC to draw public lines that send the message that married non-employed mothers are good. . .and unmarried non-employed mothers are bad,’ writes Fremstad. “The CTC absolutely should not have an earnings test, but if it ends up having one, it should apply to all married non-employed mothers and not just the solo ones.”

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