HJR 15: Urging the United States Congress and the President of the United States to reinstate an expanded child tax credit.
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 15 01 Urging the United States Congress and the President of the United States to reinstate an 02 expanded child tax credit. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS the child tax credit, applied against federal income taxes, is historically 05 one of the most successful programs enacted by the federal government to help ensure 06 families can provide for and support children; and 07 WHEREAS the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2) expanded the 08 existing child tax credit in 2021 by increasing the amount of the credit, expanding eligibility 09 for the credit, and making the credit fully refundable; and 10 WHEREAS, under the expanded child tax credit, the traditional $2,000 for each child 11 was expanded to $3,600 for each child under the age of six and to $3,000 for each child 12 between the age of six and 17, and heads of households earning up to $112,500 a year and 13 married couples filing jointly earning up to $150,000 were eligible for the full credit amount; 14 and 15 WHEREAS the expanded child tax credit was fully refundable, meaning the lowest- 16 income families could qualify for cash payments; and
01 WHEREAS the expanded child tax credit paid out half of the credit to families in 02 monthly installments of up to $300 a month; and 03 WHEREAS, under the expanded child tax credit, thousands of children in the state 04 were pulled out of poverty, food insecurity in the state decreased, and more working families 05 in the state had the means to pay for necessary expenses, including child care and school 06 supplies; and 07 WHEREAS the expanded child tax credit lifted thousands of residents, both rural and 08 urban, from poverty, and it helped drive state child poverty rates down dramatically; and 09 WHEREAS, between July and December of 2021, as reported by the United States 10 Department of the Treasury, payments averaging $474 a month were issued to approximately 11 154,000 children in the state each month; and 12 WHEREAS, in August of 2021, a Niskanen Center report estimated that the total 13 financial impact of the expansion of the child tax credit to the state was $293,246,826, the 14 total child tax credit benefit was estimated to be $604,139,826, and the expansion represented 15 a 49 percent increase in funding to families in the state; and 16 WHEREAS the Niskanen Center report found that, during the 2021 period, while the 17 child tax credit was expanded and issued monthly, the state had the highest per capita benefit 18 in the nation of $417 in expanded benefits a month and a total net benefit for each household 19 of an estimated $1,131 a month; and 20 WHEREAS the expanded child tax credit benefitted local economies in that families 21 in the state that received the child tax credit have generally spent that money in their local 22 communities; and 23 WHEREAS the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analyzed how families with 24 incomes below $35,000 used the monthly payments and found that 91 percent of low-income 25 families in the state used the payments on basic needs, including food, clothing, rent, 26 mortgage, and utilities, and 93 percent used the payments on basic needs and education costs, 27 including schoolbooks and supplies, tuition, tutoring, after-school programs, and transport; 28 and 29 WHEREAS, despite being widely lauded for successfully decreasing child poverty, 30 the expansion of the child tax credit was not renewed by the United States Congress and 31 lapsed in 2022; and
01 WHEREAS more than 85,000 families in the state and more than 150,000 children in 02 the state were negatively affected when the expansion of the child tax credit lapsed in 2022; 03 and 04 WHEREAS, after the expanded child tax credit lapsed, child poverty rose quickly, 05 food security evaporated, and many families in the state struggled to meet basic needs; and 06 WHEREAS, after the expanded child tax credit lapsed, families in rural areas of the 07 state, single-parent families, and communities of color began experiencing disproportionately 08 higher rates of poverty; and 09 WHEREAS there is bipartisan support for the expanded child tax credit to meet the 10 critical needs of families and to provide for the welfare of children; and 11 WHEREAS, in President Biden's 2024 budget proposal, the President proposed 12 restoring the expanded child tax credit, noting that it cut child poverty in half, to the lowest 13 level in American history; 14 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully urges the United 15 States Congress to pass legislation that reinstates an expanded child tax credit in the 118th 16 United States Congress; and be it 17 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the 18 President of the United States to sign into law legislation that reinstates the expanded child tax 19 credit or similar legislation. 20 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President 21 of the United States; the Honorable Kamala D. Harris, Vice President of the United States and 22 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the U.S. House of 23 Representatives; the Honorable Charles Schumer, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the 24 Honorable Xavier Becerra, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services; and the 25 Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the 26 Honorable Mary Peltola, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.