Amid Nationwide Surge in Child Poverty, Minnesota Mitigation Plan Takes Flight

(KNSI) — According to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the child poverty rate has more than doubled to 12%.

In 2022, the child poverty rate was 5%, a historic low. With the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Samantha Waxman says inflation likely contributed – but there was a much bigger force at play. “The number reflects the expiration of pandemic assistance programs, including the expanded Child Tax Credit.”

That credit was expanded temporarily under the American Rescue Plan, but Congress failed to make it permanent.

Minnesota lawmakers did expand the state Child Tax Credit, which proponents claim will cut child poverty rates by a third. It allows qualifying families a credit of up to $1,750 per child dependent, with no cap on the number of dependents. The bill was signed into law in May and went into effect immediately. Families exceeding the income thresholds may still qualify for the child tax credit but could see a reduced amount.

Deb Fitzpatrick with the Children’s Defense Fund says pandemic-era federal help pushed anti-poverty advocates to lobby for safety nets at the state level. “With the significant number of measures that were taken from kind of a whole-child, whole-family perspective – whether it was housing, having increased income through the Child Tax Credit – we hope we can mitigate some of that.”

Looking ahead, Fitzpatrick says all these efforts illustrate how nuanced fighting poverty can be.

“We have record-low unemployment in the state of Minnesota – and the idea that poverty is due to people not working is just wrong. We have lots of people who are working very hard and still struggle to make ends meet.”

She and other policy experts say those trends underscore the need to raise the baseline poverty measuring stick.

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MNC Reporter Mike Moen contributed to this story.

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