Advocates are pushing Congress to extend and make permanent the temporary expansion of the child tax credit included in the American Rescue Plan of 2021, claiming this would reduce childhood poverty. I was one of the inventors of the child tax credit, nearly 25 years ago—and I think it’s a bad idea. Since the child tax credit was enacted in 1997, it has become one of the largest federal income transfer programs. It is one of the leading reasons that more than 40% of all filers pay no income tax. The beleaguered Internal Revenue Service isn’t the right agency to play such a big role in addressing poverty.

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