H.B. 290 Child Tax Credit Amendments: transcript

I will, I Is this on? Yes. Okay. No light, so, okay. Thank you. I'm, um, joined with by Emily Bell McCormick, who is the founder and CEO of the, uh, policy project. Utah's long been known as a family friendly state. Promoting strong families has been a priority of our legislature. Um, we all know that strong, healthy, healthy families are essential to our future, but today, many young parents are saying the cost of raising a family is getting harder to afford. Cost of living concerns are the number one thing that I hear from constituents. Um, so this bill will help our young families keep more of their hard earned money. Currently. Um, our child tax, we have a, oh, and we have a handout too. Yes. Let me, is it okay to pass that around? Yeah, Just bring it to staff and we'll have to pass Around. Okay. Thank you. So currently we have a child tax credit in Utah, have a thousand dollars per child under six. This bill will raise the income threshold, so more families will qualify. So right now, if you're married, filing jointly, that child tax credit starts to, uh, raise out of 54,000. This bill will raise that to 61,000 for married filing jointly, and then proportionally for the other filing categories. So it'll help thousands more families qualify for the full child tax credit. This approach recognizes that every family is different. So whether it's helping pay for childcare, having a parent stay home or pay for groceries, a tax credit gives families flexibility. It's a targeted investment that will yield big results for Utah's young families. And I'll now turn that over to Emily.

Where does, um, Emily Bill McCormick with the policy project? We're a nonprofit and we've spent the last couple weeks going around and visiting seven different counties in Utah from rural like severe to, of course, Salt Lake and then Washington, and Cash and Davis and Iron. And we've had a lot of different conversations around family affordability with different groups. And in St. George, we met a grandmother who was saying that she cares for her two grandchildren. They lost their permanent housing, unfortunately, she wasn't able to make their mortgage payment. And when Christmas rolled around, she told us about how she asked her grandkids if they'd rather stay in their home or, or rather, uh, get permanent housing or have Christmas presents. And these kids, you know, initially just decided that housing was so much more important to them. We had conversations like this in Logan where there were, uh, couples who, one couple in particular, they were both, uh, engineers, and they said that every single bit of their paycheck is going to just their housing and they have to budget to pay for a shirt. So I think the overall message we're getting from across the state of Utah is that the legislature's done a really good job in recognizing that child tax credits are great way for people to decide if they want, uh, how they wanna care for their kids, and to really support young families when that is the most expensive and critical part in, in our lives. And we haven't had established careers by then. So we are, we recognize that this won't completely fix that for young families, but what it will do is move the needle for them, you know, $400, a thousand dollars. It makes a huge difference for families in these situations. And so we're excited about this bill. Okay. Okay. That concludes my presentation.

Yes. Hi. Thank you. I'm chair, vice chair members of the committee. I appreciate the opportunity to speak. My name is Lindsay Butra and I'm a resident of Sandy and a constituent of committee members, Senator Colmore. I wanna thank him for his continued work on issues that support Utah families. I'm here to express my strong support for HB two 90. This bill is a meaningful step towards supporting those young families. The committee earlier just had a discussion about helping families who are just starting out. And I think this does a really great way, um, to support those families who are doing everything right, but still feeling that pressure arising costs, expanding eligibility for the child tax credit, hulks family during the years when expenses are often the highest, such as childcare, housing, food, basic necessities. While their incomes may still be growing, it recognizes the real financial realities facing families with young children and provides targeted relief without creating new administrative burden. I appreciate your focus on policies that strengthen families and to support this bill. Thank

Um, I'm a resident of Eagle Mountain, and I think today we know that when raising children, every dollar counts and is being stretched further than ever. As a mother who works full-time outside my home, I am so grateful for the support of an incredible daycare center that serves as part of the village for my children. I could not do the job that I love and that fulfills me without the support of this center. But we know that this care comes at a very steep cost. The childcare for my two children is 30% of my annual salary and costs more than my mortgage. We also know that this village is incredibly important and that the village has changed significantly over the past years. It is no longer just comprised of our families and our neighbors. It is now extended to members of our community that we often utilize through paid care. It is an honor and a joy to raise my children, but we are not meant to do it alone. I hope that this bill is a step in a path towards supporting families and creating new generations of villages for our children in whatever form that takes. I hope the committee will support this bill. Thank you so much.

Oh, thank you, Mr. Chair. I make a motion that we favorably recommend HB two 90 to the floor of the Senate.

That's an order I'd like to speak to that. Um, this is a great bill. We just need to keep helping families and is one tool in our toolbox.

Thank you. This is a pro-family bill. This is how we can, uh, help our families who are struggling with affordability stay in Utah and raise strong, healthy families here. So thank you for your consideration.

Okay. Do you want me to, I can, thanks. Got you.

Well, thank you. Uh, it's a pleasure to be here my first time in a rev and tax committee hearing, so thank you. Um, as you've, you've just heard from rep Representative Ballard about the importance of, of promoting strong families here in our state. Utah has long been known as a family friendly state, and one of our focuses this session has been reducing cost and barriers to raising a family. We've all heard about the declining birth rate. It's happening nationwide, but happening, uh, even more so here in Utah. And we are hearing many young parents say that the cost of raising a family is getting harder to afford. Cost of living is the number one concern I hear from constituents. And I know we all, it's the number one concern we've all heard from constituents. Rising costs in housing, childcare and groceries continues to strain our families. The best thing that we can do to help our young families is to help them keep more of their hard earned money. So I am proposing and to expand Utah's child tax credit, this will put more money back in the pockets of thousands of working families. And so what this bill does is to, uh, raise the income threshold A little bit of what we just talked about. Um, currently the child tax credit is a thousand dollars per child under six. It's a non-refundable.

Do you wanna advance it? Uh, the next slide. We'll, there we go. Um, okay. So what, so, so back to what this bill does is it's helping our young families keep more of their hard earned money, um, in their pockets. And so it'll expand the Utah's child tax credit. Um, do you wanna go to the next one? Okay. So this, this bill will be to increase the income threshold. So currently the child tax credit is a thousand dollars per child for children under six, it's non-refundable. This bill would raise the income threshold so more families would qualify, um, and it would help a couple thousand more families. You can go to the next one. Um, so right now, if you're married, filing jointly, as we just heard, the child tax credit starts to phase out at 54,000. This request would raise that to 61,000. Married filing separately would go from 27,000 to 30,500, and single head of household would go from 43,000 to 49,000 in advance.

And I am going to turn my time now to Emily Bell McCormick, who is the founder and president of the policy project. To tell us more, I thank you so much.

Thank you representative. Um, we're excited to be here. We are a nonprofit that looks at, you know, what are the issues facing Utah's family specifically. And we, over the last three weeks have traveled to seven different counties, severe Washington, Salt Lake Weber, cash Davis, and Iron, um, to try to learn about what's happening to Utah's families. Just wanted to share a couple quick stories. Um, in St. George, we, we met a grandmother who had been placed with the care of her two grandchildren. And because of the rising cost and living and these things, um, they had lost their permanent housing. They had a mortgage and she wasn't able to make that payment. So they were living with friends. Um, when Christmas time came around, she said that they had saved up enough money that she could either get into an apartment or they could have Christmas. And she presented this option to the kids and the kids said, you know, we'd way rather have a permanent place to live. So, you know, that's a reality of a very normal Utah family. We then in cash met with a couple people in one family. Um, the mom really wanted to be at home, and so they've made all kinds of sacrifices for her to stay in the home. She said with their budget they can pay for housing and food. And she said, we literally do not have any money outside of that. You know, there, there is nothing. And in cash, that same, uh, around that same time, we met with two mechanical engineers. They have their kids in childcare, and again, they said, we actually have to budget to buy a t-shirt. We have to budget to buy underwear because we just don't have the funds. So I think we're all filling the crunch of the rising cost of housing and living. And Utah, the HB two 90 is not going to solve this problem for everyone. But what it is going to do is move us, uh, one step in the right direction for these Utah families and aligning our policy with the value that we have as Utahns to really prioritize families. I think for these families, you know, 400 extra dollars, that's real money to them. Um, and, and so this gives us an opportunity to kind of move the needle on that. Thank you.

Sorry. Okay. Right. Okay. Thank you. Good, good afternoon. Um, thank you for this opportunity to comment. My name is Caly Stanley. I live in North Ogden and I'm representing Mormon Women for Ethical Government or MWE for short. Um, and MWE is a grassroots organization that is dedicated to building a more peaceful, just and ethical world through advocacy and empowerment. And we believe that the family is the foundational group of society. All families have the right to support and to support and protection under the law. And we are grateful to Representative Miller for bringing forward this legislation that supports families across Utah. We support increasing the phase out threshold for the non-refundable child tax credit. This change would better align the credit with income growth and inflation, helping to ensure that families do not lose eligibility, um, due to modest earning increases. We see this as a step in the right direction, but also recognize there needs to be more comprehensive long-term solutions to help low-income families support their children. So we respectfully urge the committee to support HB two 90. Thank you.

Hi, uh, my name is Brooke, led Hillwood. I am with the policy project, but actually we met a family from Richfield County and the wife really wanted to be here to testify, but she wasn't able to get off work. And so I'm just gonna read her story. Her name is Anna Gillum. My husband and I moved our family to rural Utah about three years ago. Excited to finally start our life as my husband had just finished his master's degree and I had finished my bachelor's degree. We both got good jobs with great benefits in our county, and were excited to put our degrees and passions to work while creating the life. We had a vision for our two daughters. We told ourselves we would rent for a time until we got to know the area better, and then we would buy our first house. However, after three years, we are still renting and dreams of owning a home. Still feel like a far reaching dream. We are constantly stretched and stressed, caring for our kids, working full-time, budgeting and managing expenses just to get by. We don't live lavishly. We live within our means and we still find ourselves scraping by the end of the month. It is discouraging to think we did everything the right way, but we can't make it. We talk often about welcoming baby number three into our family, but it feels impossible to not only be able to afford another baby, but to be able to balance managing the care for three kids. As a working mother, I'm consumed with guilt of wanting to be home with my children, but feeling unable to be become because we cannot provide for our family on one income alone. A modest increase in financial flexibility through the child tax credit is a step in the right direction toward recognizing the families that are working and sacrificing for their families. But don't qualify for any assistance. Thank you.

I will make this short and sweet. My name's Jennifer Stout. I am with the Voices for Utah Children. And I just want to say that we support this bill and, um, thank you for all the work that you've done to, um, present it. So thank you.

Hi. Can you hear me okay? Yes, We can. Okay. Chair, vice chair and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak now. Uh, my name is Lindsay Butra and I'm a resident of Sandy and a constituent of committee member, Representative Okerlund. I wanna thank him for his continued work on issues that support Utah families. I am here to express my very strong support for HB two 90. This bill is a meaningful step towards supporting young families who are doing everything right but are still feeling the pressure of rising costs. Expanding eligibility for the child tax credit helps families during the years when expenses, expenses are often the highest childcare, housing, food, and basic needs. As we've heard, while their income still may be growing, this policy recognizes the real financial realities facing families with young children. And it provides targeted relief without creating new administrative burden. It's practical, it's a family-centered approach that can make a real difference for working parents across Utah. I appreciate the legislator's, legislature's focus on policies that strengthen families. And I urge your support for HB two 90. Thank you for this time.

Hello. Thank you for giving me some time to speak to you today. My name is Krista Hinton. I live in Santa Clara, Utah. I, um, actually serve on the Santa Clara City Council and I'm also part of the Southern Utah Coalition for the Policy Project. And I wanted to speak today in support of this bill, HB two 90. I wanted to share my perspective from southern Utah, a rural area of this, of the state, and hope that you'll consider expanding flexibility for the child tax credit. Our families in rural areas need more support, especially those with children. The cost of living keeps going up in Utah, especially home prices. Wages are not as high in Southern Utah and there aren't as many career opportunities. Um, for parents. I'm the mother of four adult children, ages 20 to 29. They're navigating these, these issues right now. Home ownership, whether to start a family or expand a family. Um, I have one child who's married, who isn't able to live in southern Utah where she'd like to because of the high cost here. This bill would go a long way to supporting families. We hold ourselves out as a family friendly state, and I think this would go a long way to promote that. Um, and I urge you to support this legislation. Thank you.

Hello, can you hear me Okay. We

My name is Melanie Cole and I'm from Sandy, Utah. And my representative Steve Elias. And thank you for chairing the committee and all of your hard work. So I'm here to support HB 3 0 2 9 0 because it represents smart policy and it's targeted for families. It helps improve workforce participation because I think from a fiscal standpoint, we should consider opportunity costs if we do nothing on this. So, because for me, I know that parents can't afford childcare and early childhood expenses and step out of the workforce. I know for my story, I had loss of productivity loss in tax revenue. Um, it's just higher long-term dependency cost to support families this early. And I think we could do so much good in efficiently supporting this bill.

Yeah. Representative Strong. Yeah, I have a couple of questions. Just to be clear. This applies to all families, whether they're working or not working. Correct?

Um, it would be to working families because it's non-refundable, so they would have To have, well, okay. Yes. But, uh, whether both are working or both or, or only one is working,

Correct? Yes. Stay at home moms. So yes. Families with, with kids. And They're six stay home parents. Sorry.

Yes. Yeah. So if you are working and pay for childcare or if a parent's staying home, either way It would Apply applies. Yeah.

Okay. Um, okay. That's my question. Thanks.

Um, I'll sum at the end. Okay.

Thank you. I, um, appreciate that. As Representative Strong pointed out, um, this helps all families regardless of their circumstances, if they have young children. So whether it's paying for childcare or having a parent stay home or paying for diapers or groceries, um, it, it helps all of our young families. And, um, and as a body, as we want to help young families and continue to have that to be a priority, um, one of the best things we can do is help them keep their hard-earned money in their pockets. So I would appreciate your support. Thank you.

Yeah, thanks. As a, as a father of six, um, and as a, you know, young, when I was a young father and we had all the kids at home, and you know, you're pinching every penny. Understand, I understand that it, it, it would be great if we lived in a perfect world where we didn't have to do this all the time. There's a big fiscal note I that's always subject to, you know, to be determined, um, especially in a tight year. But, um, I think we need to make some steps forward, um, to help, uh, young families. It's the family that drives the economy and it's the family that drives the values. And, uh, the family really is the core of everything good in our society. So I sum with that.

Thank you Speaker Utah has been as long been known as a family friendly state promoting strong families as a priority of this body. And this session we have been focused on affordability and, uh, helping families with their concerns over the rising cost of living. This bill is the result of many of those discussions. It will help thousands of young families keep more money in their pocket. So currently we have a child tax credit of a thousand dollars per child under six. This bill raises the income threshold so more families will qualify right now, if you're married filing jointly, that child tax credit starts to phase out at $54,000 and this bill will raise the income threshold to $61,000 and then it will raise the other, um, tax statuses. Proportionally, it'll help thousands more families qualify for the full child tax credit. This approach recognizes that every family is different. So whether it's paying for childcare, having a parent stay home or paying for groceries, the child tax credit gives families the flexibility to meet their unique needs. It's a targeted investment that will yield big results for Utah families. And with that, I ask for your support.

Well, thank you. This is a pro-family policy that will make a big difference for a lot of our young families.

Thank you Mr. President. For Generations, Utah has been a place where families can put down roots, find opportunity, and raise children close to grandparents and neighbors and community support. And that family centered culture is part of what makes our state special. But today, many young families are seeing the cost of raising a family, getting harder and harder to afford. Cost of living is the number one concern from constituents rising cost of housing, childcare, and groceries continue to strain families and their budgets. So this bill will put more money back in the pockets of thousands of working young families. Uh, the current child tax credit is a thousand dollars per child under six and Senate, uh, house bill two 90 raises the income threshold so that more families qualify. So that if you're married filing jointly, instead of starting to phase out at 54,000, it would start to phase out at $61,000. That concludes my presentation. Thank you, Senator.

Uh, Sub first Substitute. Really interesting. Senator, I'm willing, Let me, yeah, I'm gonna, I'll move to circle if Yeah. Motion to circle. Why don't we do that? Motion to circle.

I'm gonna take a personal privilege if I can. We have in the back Jane Davis, a former Senator Jean,

uh, birth rate. You know, we tend to have a lot of kids, a lot of young families, but Utah in recent years has become number one in something else, the fastest falling birth rate of any state in the country. And part of the culprit for our falling birth rate, uh, and our declining, uh, population of children has to do with affordability As housing, childcare and groceries continue to strain families, senate bill or House Bill two 90 puts more money back in the pockets of thousands of working families by increasing the income threshold so that more families qualify for the child tax credit.

Thank you Mr. President Pro Tem. Uh, I look at the fiscal note of this bill and it's $7.1 million that are taking out of the income tax fund. Um, did you vote to cut the income tax bill? Did you vote in favor of the income Tax bill? Senator, we yield to questions?

Uh, yes. I will yield to questions to Germaine ones.

Okay. Senator, my my question is, if you're voting to cut our income tax and then you're running bills to spend our income tax, I find that ironic. Uh, I look at some of these bills and the people that are voting to cut our income tax and yet they're spending it more than some of the people that voted to not cut our income tax. I believe in child tax credits. But I also believe that if we're going to cut our income tax, you should not be running bills that are spending our income tax. So, uh, that's what I wanted to go on record saying.

Mr. President. I see this issue very differently. This is a tax cut for Utah families. I I am happy to vote for one tax cut and another tax cut. I move that house Bill two 90 pass

Thank you Mr. President Pro Tem, uh, three 90 uh, relates to the veterans here in Utah. And Utah is uniquely positioned