Burgum backs bigger child tax credit amid broader GOP family push
Zachary Halaschak
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Presidential hopeful Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) supports expanding the child tax credit, a position that is growing in popularity among Republicans who have elevated the importance of family support.
The 67-year-old governor spoke with the Washington Examiner for an interview on economic policy this week. When asked specifically whether he would support a bigger federal child tax credit with work requirements, he said yes. He echoes GOP supporters of boosting the credit such as Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mitt Romney (R-UT), and others.
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Republicans have long debated the tax credit, with supply-siders squaring off against more populist, family-focused lawmakers. But lawmakers and GOP candidates have begun emphasizing family support on the campaign trail, including direct financial support.
Burgum also emphasized the necessity of child care for parents. He said that accessible, high-quality, and affordable child care is crucial in pushing for high workforce participation, which is a boon for the economy. He pointed out that North Dakota has one of the youngest and fastest growing populations in the U.S. and said that as governor, he signed into law a multi-million-dollar package to support child care services in the Peace Garden State.
He said that while the money is directed toward child care, it also indirectly helps barriers to workforce participation. Among the tranche of provisions, the North Dakota legislation provided $22 million to expand the state’s Child Care Assistance Program, which pays part of the cost of child care for working families.
“We know when there is economic opportunity that’s great for families and it’s great for whether one parent wants to work, or two parents want to work,” Burgum said. “We’ve got to make sure that everybody that wants to work has an opportunity to do that and that we’ve got affordability, quality, and accessibility in child care, even in the rural areas of our country.”
The child tax credit has been around in various iterations for years now and the current child tax credit is $2,000 for minors, a level it has been at since it was doubled in 2017.
The child tax credit was temporarily increased as part of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief legislation. That raised it to $3,600 for children under 6 and $3,000 for older children, with perhaps the biggest change being the removal of an income threshold for those who receive the funds. Thus, a family with no income or head of household working would also receive the full $3,600 or $3,000 payments. The boosted tax credit sunset at the end of 2021.
Republicans largely opposed the temporary pandemic-era expansion because of the lack of work requirements. They equated it to work without welfare. But some of the Republicans hoping for a bigger child tax credit have pitched their own versions of a tax credit expansion, ones that keep the work guardrails in place.
For instance, Rubio and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) in 2021 introduced a proposal that would have boosted the child tax credit to $3,500 per child and $4,500 per child under the age of 6.
Romney’s plan, which garnered support from Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Steve Daines (R-MT), envisions raising the credit amount and also making the tax credit available to poorer people, with families able to receive the full credit once their income reaches just $10,000.
The increased support within the GOP for expanding the child tax credit is part of a broader shift toward more populist policies. Some in Congress have hoped to retool the GOP into the party of the working class and blue-collar America.
Trade policy among Republicans, in particular, has taken on a more populist tilt following former President Donald Trump’s entry into politics. Trump introduced a series of tariffs with the intention of protecting jobs in the U.S. and punishing China, a rivalry that intensified during his four years in office.
Trump recently vowed to enact a universal 10% tariff on all imports if he regains the presidency. Burgum maintains that we should be trading with allies and boosting free trade with them while opposing adversaries.
He pushed back on Trump’s 10% universal tariff idea, saying it’s “too simplistic and doesn’t match the real world.” Burgum said such a plan would be inflationary and would raise the cost of a lot of things in the U.S.
“We have to be able to figure out, who are our friends? Who are our enemies? And then figure out a way to develop trade policy that supports our objectives that actually drives what’s best for American interests,” Burgum said.
While there are differences in the GOP over family support policies and trade policy, one area of relative universal agreement is the effectiveness of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, known colloquially as the Trump or Republican tax cuts.
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A big priority of all the 2024 candidates is extending the expiring provisions within the law, and Burgum said that if he wins the presidency, he will work to keep the 2017 tax cuts going into the future.
“I was a strong supporter when they came out and those should absolutely go forward,” Burgum said.