Poor mothers get shut out of the Child Tax Credit, our research finds
“The United States has among the highest rates of single parenthood in the world. Most of these parents are women. An increasingly polarized electorate makes single mothers’ votes even more important. To win those votes, policymakers may wish to tackle the obstacles single mothers face head on, such as steadily increasing child-care, food, and education costs. Making the child tax credit easier to claim would help. Policymakers may also wish to note that the current minimum wage is too low to allow Americans who earn it to claim the full child credit — a poverty benefit with an income requirement.”