NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — John Wilson with Kansas Action for Children would like to see part of the state's budget surplus go to the families in the state with kids, through a state child tax credit.
"We have a plan for Kansas that is modeled off of what New Mexico has done with their state child tax credit," Wilson said. "There are several important components to it. The first thing is that it would be available to all children under the age of 18. The amount of the tax credit varies, depending on your household income. The more you make, the less the credit is, the less you make, the more the credit is. It is a refundable tax credit, meaning, if you don't actually have a tax liability, because you're very low income, then you can still receive the credit."
There are low income families that pay taxes other than income tax.
"Many lower income families still pay taxes, through the form of property taxes, sales taxes, those sorts of things, they just don't have high enough incomes. A tax credit like this could go a long way in helping put cash in families pockets and allow them to spend it on necessities like rent or groceries or car repairs."
The federal child tax credit increase that happened during COVID was a net positive for kids. This credit would be smaller, but could still help.
"If you make nothing to $20,000, it would be $600 per child in the household," Wilson said. "There's a cap on the number of children that are eligible. If you make more than $350,000, it's roughly $25 per child in the household. If you use a framework like that, that would return about $156 million to Kansas families with children every year."
Fourteen states have child tax credits. It is refundable in 11 of those states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
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