Washington D.C. – Only with the full implementation of the federal credit for dependent children (CTC), expanded, child poverty in Puerto Rico may have been reduced from 55% to 39%, according to a new study by the Youth Development Institute (IDJ).
If it is combined with the new credit for work, the reduction is 21 points, since it would remain at 34%, indicated the doctor Maria EnchauteguiDirector of Research and Public Policy of the IDJ and one of the authors of the study “The CTC in Puerto Rico: Impacts on Poverty and the Lives of Families.”
Although the reduction in child poverty in Puerto Rico is significant, it was still well below the drop in the United States, which reached 46%.
The data from the study were presented on Thursday at an informative session of the IDJ – in one of the rooms of the Natural Resources Committee of the House of Representatives – which was in charge of Enchautegui; Laura Esquivel, vice president of the Hispanic Federation for Federal Public Policy; Elaine Maag of the Urban Institute; and Rosalyn Hernández Olmo, community leader on the island and mother of two children.
“The CTC has had a great impact… The barriers identified by IDJ are solvable and addressing them would drastically reduce child poverty in Puerto Rico,” Enchautegui said.in an event sponsored by the Puerto Rican Democratic congresswoman Nydia Velázquez and the resident commissioner in Washington, Jenniffer González, who offered a message.
Until the economic rescue law (ARPA) was approved in 2021, which sought to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, in Puerto Rico the CTC was only available to families with three or more children, who have to request the money by filling out a form federal tax.
As of the ARPA law, the law fully applies on the Island. The full validity in Puerto Rico of the CTC coincided with the expansion, for taxable year 2021, of the tax credit to $3,000 in the case of dependent children 5 years of age or less , and $3,600 for dependent children ages 6-17.
More than 222,000 families in Puerto Rico had applied for the CTC as of October.
Without a new expansion, the CTC will drop in this taxable year 2022 to a maximum of about $1,400, it will apply to dependent children 16 years of age or younger and to have access, people must have income from work. Under this scenario, Enchautegui explained, the IDJ estimates are that child poverty would drop by only 1%.
“In Puerto Rico, the percentage of families without income from work is high,” Enchautegui explained.
At the forum, the IDJ called for Congress to once again expand the CTC and allow Puerto Rico to transition from Nutrition Assistance Program (PAN) to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a process that, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, can take a decade.
The IDJ also released a report on the transition from PAN to SNAP at the event.
In addition, the IDJ advocated for a supplemental allocation of $1 billion under the PAN, in response to Hurricane Fiona.
Without a new expansion of the CTC, more than 80,000 families in Puerto Rico will no longer be eligible for that credit, which will negatively impact 161,000 children, according to the IDJ analysis.
Access to SNAP – an issue on which the Puerto Rican authorities will put pressure on in 2023 in view of the reauthorization of the federal agricultural law-, could represent an increase in food assistance funds for the Island of close to $2,000 million.
The ARPA law assigned Puerto Rico $600 million to subsidize three-fourths of the island’s work credit. This week, Governor Pedro Pierluisi has asked that the federal subsidy increase to $787 million annually, since the increase in employment will increase the applications for the credit, known in the United States by its acronym in English, EITC.
The report warns, however, that the implementation of the CTC has had its pitfalls. Many families face economic and language barriers to apply for a loan that requires filling out the federal form, with which the overwhelming majority of Puerto Rican residents are not familiar.
“Our findings show that what Congress is already doing provides an important first step. The question is whether Congress will make key adjustments to give Puerto Rico a real chance to escape poverty or allow tens of thousands of families to fall back into unnecessary hardship.”, Enchautegui pointed out.
As part of the presentation, community leader Hernández Olmo – a resident of the Playita de Santurce sector and service coordinator for a company that manages public residential housing-, spoke at the session “on behalf of the thousands of mothers who are heads of household in Puerto Rico who get up every day to achieve a better quality of life for their children, break the cycle of poverty and the lack of resources due to our economic status.”
Mother of two sons, 18 and 3 years old, narrated how the CTC has benefited her family and how the benefits of the PAN, although they help, are insufficient.
“It does not cover the requirements of healthy nutrition, as recommended by a nutritionist. And it does not cover the cost of the purchase to be able to offer three meals and three snacks to my family. That is unreal. You have to become an accountant to have good calculations and for everything to go well, ”she said.
Hernández Olmo also said that the full access of the residents of Puerto Rico to the CTC allowed him to buy a car for his eldest son, guarantee his job and transportation to the university.
“Before, I had not been able to participate since I had only one dependent and that meant that I did not qualify, but with the window that opened I was able to take advantage of the opportunity and it helped me greatly. My son Kenneth was in the process of being moved in his store job to a more secluded area in which we live and with a promotion in position. He was walking to work, when I was able to apply for the CTC and he arrived, I was able to get him a vehicle for his safe transportation and he was able to enroll in the university and is currently studying in one of the best in his branch”, explained Hernández Olmo.
In the case of her three-year-old son, she said that because he suffers from severe allergies, his diet is challenging and more expensive, and visits to the doctor increase.
“For me as a single mother it is obviously a challenge since I have to do everything possible to keep it in good condition and that obviously entails a constant financial expense. Visits to the doctor, paying for his treatments, getting the right food and milk; and that it gives for everything is a challenge, ”she explained.
Esquivel, the Hispanic Federation’s vice president of Federal Public Policy, maintained that PAN beneficiaries in Puerto Rico face “stricter eligibility requirements, so participants are historically poorer than those who receive SNAP in the states.” .
“Puerto Rico’s families, children, seniors and veterans live in uncertainty and are forced to make difficult decisions about food purchases and nutrition,” Esquivel said.