Melinda Longtin of Stafford Springs said she and her husband waited five years until they were financially stable to start having children, giving birth to their first daughter last year.
As her maternity leave ended, Longtin’s plans to return to the social work world fell apart when her husband’s in-person job demands increased, child care proved too costly.
Despite being the “breadwinner” of the family, Longtin said she had to quit her job because the schedule wasn’t flexible enough to work and care for her daughter. She said the family now struggles to pay bills and are finding ways to stretch their money, like buying cheaper groceries, not overusing utilities and conserving water. Finding a job in Connecticut or out-of-state that pays enough and is flexible has also been tough.
“I had no choice but to quit, meaning I would both lose my income and not qualify for government financial assistance programs. I’ve often wondered how many moms and dads go through this with their first child,” she wrote in a public hearing testimony supporting the annually-proposed child tax credit that often struggles to make it out onto the legislative floor.
Advocates and Democratic lawmakers hope this is the year to pass a permanent child tax credit as food and housing costs rise nationwide. Expanding the child tax credit has been a longstanding debate in Connecticut and at the federal level. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the federal child tax credit was introduced in 1997 at $400 per child. The credit became refundable and increased over time, reaching $2,000 in 2017, but will drop to the 2012 amount of $1,000 in December.
The Biden Administration expanded the credit to $3,600 per child younger than age six and $3,000 for children up to age 17 for the 2021 tax year during the COVID-19 pandemic. It ended in 2022.
Connecticut lawmakers also passed a one-time child tax credit rebate offering families who applied around $250 per child, with a maximum of $750, in 2021 due to COVID-19.
Although only lasting a year, advocates said the federal and state expansions had substantial impact with the nationwide child poverty rate declining by 46% from 2020, according to the U.S. Census.
When the expanded credits ended, poverty in Connecticut and across the nation skyrocketed back up, especially among children, according to a report from the non-profit Connecticut Voices for Children.
“It’s a very simple solution. It’s not inventing something new. It’s boosting something we already know working families rely on as a lifeline,” said Daniel Fitzmaurice, director of advocacy at United Way.
Lawmakers have proposed two versions of a statewide child tax credit. House Bill 5986, backed by 64 legislators, would provide a $600 refundable credit per child for up to three children to income eligible families. It’d cost the state around $300 million to implement.
State Sen. Martin Looney, D-New Haven, proposed Senate Bill 740, which introduces a refundable child tax credit starting at $150 per child and increasing to $600 over three years. The bill includes a 5% reduction in payments for every $1,000 of federal adjusted gross income above $100,000 for single filers, $160,000 for heads of households, and $200,000 for married filers. Implementation is estimated to cost the state $75 million.
Both bills already heard public testimony in late February and are on the docket for the state’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee to review, but when they plan to vote on it isn’t clear.
State Rep. Kate Farrar, D-West Hartford, said the recent efforts to make the tax credit permanent have all heard public testimony but rarely make it out of committee discussions, which is the first step for any bill to become law. Lawmakers have been proposing a child tax credit program since 2021, but Farrar said its historically fallen through the cracks, especially since the federal child tax credit already exists.
File art: State Rep. Kate Farrar (D) speaks during a joint forum of the higher education and government oversight committees at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn., Tuesday, February 11, 2025. She is one of 70 legislators who co-signed a proposed bill to create a permanent statewide child tax credit.
Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media
So far, the only time a child tax credit bill has passed through the revenue committee and became law was in 2022 after it was reduced to a one-time rebate and incorporated into the state’s final budget.
The child tax credit also faces an uphill battle against Gov. Ned Lamont and other lawmakers’ desire to stay within the legislature’s “fiscal guardrails,” which constrain spending.
Lamont, for example, vetoed over $40 million in more special education funding and nearly $3 million for nonprofit social service agencies before reaching an agreement with lawmakers last week.
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Asked about the child tax credit this week, a Lamont spokesperson declined to address the policy directly but emphasized the governor’s previous efforts to cut taxes and his desire for an “honestly balanced budget.”
If either of the proposed child tax credit bill makes it out of committee and becomes law, advocates said the investment will have a widespread impact on families. An estimated 75% of all Connecticut households with children would receive the credit if a permanent $600 child tax credit was passed, according to Data Haven.
