Those COVID stimulus checks are over, but the free money train from Washington D.C. continues. Starting next month, American families making less than $112,000 per year will begin getting direct payments of $300 per-child, per-month under the expanded child tax credit. The Biden administration is touting this as a "rescue plan" to "lift America's children out of poverty." But Republicans and other critics see it as another example of runaway spending that will ultimately hurt the economy.
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, says it is misleading to call programs like this a tax credit. "It's a welfare check," he tells KTRH. "And it has all the problems that the Great Society had...when you pay people for not working, you get less work."
"This was done during the Great Society, sending people checks," Norquist continues. "And it didn't reduce the poverty level, and it didn't reduce the unemployment level."
The other big issue raised by Republicans is the amount of this money likely to be wasted, since the child tax credit has historically had high levels of fraud and abuse. "This is a real problem, sending out free money," says Norquist. "Yes, it will be stolen. Yes, you'll see fraud. It also discourages people from going into the workforce."
As with big government welfare programs of the past, Norquist believes this will be used to keep people dependent on government---and dependent on Democrats. "This is a signal from Biden that you don't have to work for a living, you can vote for a living," he says. "And this is an effort to say keep voting us in, and we'll keep taking money from working people and give it to you."
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