A Child Tax Credit in California: Correcting Inequities Created by the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act Would Cut Deep Child Poverty by Nearly One-Third

The Child Tax Credit (CTC) is the closest policy that the U.S. currently has to a universal benefit for families with children, but under the current structure of the credit, many low-income families are left out. The uneven distribution of the CTC provides an opportunity for states to correct the imbalance and ensure that low- and moderate-income families benefit equally from the credit as compared to their higher-income peers. In our latest Poverty & Social Policy Brief, we simulate the costs and benefits of such a correction in the state of California, the state with the highest rate of child poverty. We find that correcting the inequalities in the CTC would yield meaningful reductions in child poverty in California.