Tax justice means looking out for children

Kitsap Sun Feb. 3, 2023

Opinion

Tax justice means looking out for children

You and I are probably comfortable in our homes, with a well-stocked refrigerator. Not so for more than 1 in 5 kids here in the U.S. For Black kids, it's more than 1 in 4! And the COVID-19 pandemic only made child poverty worse. Did you know that one prominent estimate suggests that child poverty costs the U.S. about $1 trillion annually in reduced adult productivity, increased crime and higher health costs?

In 2021, the Child Tax Credit (CTC) was increased and expanded to include all low-income children. Then child poverty dropped astoundingly 46 percent! But 51 U.S. Senators let the expansion expire, with a dramatic increase in child poverty. A study of MRI scans showed that kids from poorer, less-educated families tended to have thinner subregions of their brain's prefrontal cortex, which is needed for critical thinking. Dire poverty hinders neural development! If Congress passes tax legislation this year, an expansion of the CTC to all low-income families – with monthly payments – must be in it.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) research shows the each additional dollar spent on tax enforcement could yield $5 - $7 in revenue. We tax investment income at a much lower rate than salaries and wages are taxed. This is why you and I have a far higher tax rate than the very rich. Our tax laws must be made fair and just. And certainly for our youngest, in their critical formative years.

Donna Munro, Bremerton