Thread by @ChuckCBPP

This is a thread on the Romney Child Tax Credit plan. My hope is that somehow it will find its way to liberal commentators who feel an almost giddy impulse to tell their many followers that the Romney proposal is better or just as good or close enough to the Biden proposal

First, picture two people, one woman and one man, both of an age of possibly have young children. Now picture a recent visit to the grocery store, or a recent delivery, or an elderly relative being helped to shower or have lunch

Now suppose the woman your picturing makes about $15,000 a year at one of those jobs – e.g. a cashier or a home health aide -- and she’s a single mom with a toddler son and a daughter who is in second grade

President Biden – for one year -- proposes to boost her Child Tax Credit and her family’s income by about $4,700 – i.e. real money for a family who do not have lots of money

Senator Romney – on a permanent basis – proposes to increase her Child Tax Credit by about $5,300, i.e. even more (I was giddy at this point too). But then Senator Romney in turn proposes to take more than two-thirds of this amount back by cutting her EITC

This one single Mom’s family does much, much better under the Biden plan than the Romney plan

Now picture explaining to her one reason the Romney plan is “better” is that if she gets less of an income boost for kids’ clothes, to help pay rent, or maybe even for a birthday party for her daughter that, because of this denial, she will be more apt to get married. Then, duck

Now let’s turn back to the man mentioned earlier in this thread. Picture he makes about $20,000 a year at one of those jobs – maybe he prepares food for delivery – and wife recently had a baby and she is at home with the baby and their other son who is third grade

The Biden proposal increases his family’s Child Tax Credit by about $4,000 – again, real money.

The Romney plan would increase his family’s Child Tax Credit by an even higher amount, roughly $4,600. But, and for this man it’s a big but, the Romney plan in turn proposes to take back about two-thirds of this gain by cutting the family’s EITC

Starting with these two people in mind, now consider that Senator Romney proposes to cut the entire EITC by about two-thirds, i.e. affecting millions and millions of people across the country as it does this example woman and man

This means that home-health aides, grocery story cashiers, house cleaners, short-order cooks would pay for a sizable portion of the Romney plan, that these people making $15,000, $20,000 would fare far worse under the Romney plan

Now think back to the 2017 tax law where the amount wealthy trust fund kids could inherit tax-free was increased to $22 million per couple or about the new tax deduction for wealthy real estate partnerships or the massive tax cuts for corporate shareholders

As of now, the Biden proposal is for just one year. Soon hopefully, it will be a permanent proposal. It’s not clear how such a proposal would be paid for.

Please, liberal commentators, ask yourselves whether having home health aides & grocery cashiers pay for or an expanded Child Tax Credit is better than some obvious progressive alternatives (e.g. wealthy heirs, real estate partners, wealthy shareholders)