A National Prescription for Health: Tax Credits

Abstract

* Abbreviations: CTC — : Child Tax Credit EITC — : Earned Income Tax Credit NAM — : National Academy of Medicine TCJA — : Tax Cuts and Jobs Act WFTRA — : Working Families Tax Relief Act There is a clear link between poverty and suboptimal maternal-child health.1–3 Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) have called for expansion of cash transfers in the form of tax credits to decrease child poverty.1,2 The NAM analyzed evidence-based, nonpartisan strategies to reduce child poverty by 50% over the next decade. They developed packages of these strategies, including combinations of increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the Child Tax Credit (CTC), child care subsidies, minimum wage, Social Security income, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and housing vouchers. They also assessed a scaled-up work training program and eliminated immigration-related restrictions on welfare.2 Notably, increasing the CTC (in the form of a child allowance) to $3000 per child per year was the only policy the NAM found powerful enough to meet the 50% reduction goal on its own.2 Approximately 13 million children live in poverty, making the NAM’s goal an audacious one. However, we have an opportunity to make progress toward its achievement. The Working Families Tax Relief Act (WFTRA), components of which were recently included on a temporary basis in the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act passed in the US House of Representatives in response to the COVID-19 crisis, would modify the EITC and CTC in ways that align with some of the NAM's recommendations. It could decrease the poverty rate by 28%,4 equating to 3 million fewer children growing up in poverty. … Address correspondence to Lucy E. Marcil, MD, MPH, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center, 801 Albany St, Floor 3, Boston, MA 02118. E-mail: lucy.marcil{at}bmc.org