When politicians talk about the 2025 tax fight on the campaign trail, they paint with broad strokes. But the child tax credit has a way of finding the spotlight.
It’s no shock that the benefit for families with kids is drawing attention from both parties with the election on the line and a huge tax debate brewing. But there’s no shortage of tension over a policy that could wind up creating a major impasse next year if there’s a divided government.
Democrats make no secret of their interest in selling voters on an expanded CTC. For years, Democrats have been trying to revive a bigger 2021 version they consider a signature policy. Key Democrats want to emphasize in this election that they’re the party that delivers on the CTC.
There are GOP fans of the CTC too, in particular some House members from swing districts and more populist types. Sen. JD Vance (Ohio), the Republican vice presidential nominee, said on “Face the Nation” in August that he’d “love to see a child tax credit that’s $5,000 per child” and for it to “apply to all American families.”
The Senate Finance Committee’s top Republican, Mike Crapo of Idaho, told us that he’s open to expanding the CTC next year beyond the levels set in 2017.
Here’s Crapo on the CTC, the Trump-Vance ticket and 2025:
Of course, Democrats aren’t thrilled with Crapo over this very issue. Senate Republicans refused to back the Wyden-Smith tax deal. That bill would have expanded the CTC for some of the lowest-income families while also reviving business tax breaks.
“The reality is we see this continually,” Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said. “Donald Trump talks a big game about going to bat for working families but when the dust settles, that’s not where he puts any real attention.”
Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat up for reelection in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, pointed to most Republican senators voting down the Wyden-Smith deal. “That was a missed opportunity,” he said.
Speaker Mike Johnson, meanwhile, touted the CTC when laying out his economic vision this week at the America First Policy Institute. Johnson said he wants a “strong child tax credit” in a tax bill next year. He added:
This, of course, is the central problem. Republicans emphasize work requirements. Democrats’ top priority is delivering more CTC benefits for the poorest families, even if they don’t have jobs.
Everyone might be rushing in to claim the CTC, but the difference over the details has the makings of a major policy hang-up for 2025.
– Laura Weiss
