According to a recent report, nearly 350,000 children in Missouri live in families with low incomes to be eligible for the entire government child tax credit. Children of color and those living in rural areas are more likely to slip through the cracks than other children.
Payment Based On Family Wages And Income Taxes
The $2,000 government payment for each kid, based on a family’s wages and income taxes, is ineligible for several of the lowest-income households in the country, according to official website.
Advocates have long contended that this policy design targets the most vulnerable kids. The federal government increased the program for six months last year, notably by making the whole sum available to kids from low-income households. Numerous studies have shown that the expansion reduced food insecurity and raised children from poverty.
Children Ineligible For Child Tax Credit
According to the data, almost 3.5 lakh Missouri kids are currently not eligible for the entire $2,000 child tax credit. Nearly a quarter of the 345,000 Missouri kids in the gap are Black, which is about 10 percentage points more than the state’s general Black child population. In Missouri and across the country, more Latino as well as American Indian or Alaska Native kids live in families with incomes that are too low to be eligible for the benefit.
Due to the average lower wages in rural areas children who live there are also more prone to not receive the entire child tax credit. In Missouri, 24% of children who live in metro areas and 34% of children who live in rural regions are not given full credit.
These figures are broadly in line with the national averages, which show that 32% of children in rural communities and 26% in urban areas are excluded from school.
Other preliminary data indicate that many of the gains from the extension of the child tax credit from the previous year are already lost. The Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University reports that child poverty increased nationwide between 12% in December 2021 and 17% in January 2022. The nationwide child poverty rate reached 17% in August, according to the most current data available reports KCUR.
