Giving child tax credits to the “right People.”

The right people.

“Let’s make sure we’re getting it to the right people. There’s no work requirements whatsoever. There’s no education requirements.. Don’t you think if you want to help the children, the people should make some effort?” said Democratic Party West Virginia senator Joe Manchin yesterday.

And just who are the right people?

It doesn’t take a PhD to unpack the racism and contempt of poor people displayed by Democrat Manchin.

What work are the billionaires required to perform for their tax credits?

What education requirement?

Does Manchin have kids? I don’t know and I’m not Googling to find out.

Raising kids?

That takes real effort particularly if you’re poor.

How much money are we talking about here?

Billions went to the wealthy in the first pandemic bailout.

The Biden administration wants to make a $300 tax credit permanent. The government claims that a $300 a month tax credit has lifted millions of children out of poverty.

Three hundred bucks.

That’s a Jeff Bezos tip for dinner out.

Currently, the child tax credit provides up to $300 a month for each child aged 5 or younger, or $3,600 annually.

$3600 a year.

That’s not even a month’s rent on a Lake front studio apartment.

For children between ages 6 and 17, families can receive up to $250 each month, or $3,000 each year.

The Democratic stimulus law in March, turned the credit into a one-year cash benefit issued in monthly checks to the vast majority of families. Individuals who earn $75,000 or less are eligible for full payments. Couples earning a combined $150,000 or less also qualify for the total amount.Studies a suggesting that the first month of payments kept three million children out of poverty and helped feed two million kids in July.

“We have real world evidence from the past two months that hunger among children has fallen, it’s a clear result of the credit being paid out on an advance basis to low-income families,” Seth Hanlon, a tax expert at the Center for American Progress.

Food insecurity, what we once called hunger, dropped among Manchin’ West Virginian families as well, per an analysis from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.

By the way, West Virginia is the 4th poorest state in the country. Almost twenty percent of West Virginians live below the official poverty line. Only Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico have more poor people.

Hanlon also noted existing research that indicates programs like child tax credit improve long-term health, educational and financial outcomes. “There’s such overwhelming reason to not base the aid to children on their parents’ earnings,” he said.

Unless they’re poor.

Unless they’re not the right people.