Child Poverty Spiked After Tax Credit Expired, Early Research Suggests

WASHINGTON – Low-income parents faced more hardship in January after Congress failed to continue the monthly child tax credit payments that slashed child poverty last year.

Child poverty increased 40% without the payments, according to the Columbia Center on Poverty and Social Policy. The payments amounted to $300 per child under 6 and $250 per child under 18 for the vast majority of American families.

“The monthly child poverty rate increased from 12.1% in December 2021 to 17% in January 2022, the highest rate since the end of 2020,” the...