Washington, DC Newsroom, August 16, 2024 / 6:02 p.m.

Vice President Kamala Harris promised to increase the child tax credit for parents and create a newborn tax credit of up to $6,000 if she is elected president in 2024 – just days after former President Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance proposed a similar expansion of the child tax credit.

On Friday, Harris’ campaign announced her plan to reinstate the $3,600-per-child tax credit that was temporarily offered to eligible parents in tax year 2021. The campaign said the credit would be available to the “middle class” and “the most hard-pressed working families with children.”

At a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday afternoon, Harris said the 2021 rules would ensure that “millions of Americans with children can keep more of their hard-earned income.”

“We know this works and has an impact on many problems, including child poverty,” she added.

The campaign also pledged to support a newborn tax credit of up to $6,000 per year that would be available to parents of middle- and low-income families during their child’s first year of life.

“This is a vital year of critical development for a child,” Harris said at the rally. “And the costs can really add up, especially for new parents who have to buy diapers and clothes and a car seat and so much more.”

Under current law, the child tax credit is $2,000 per child, and there are no additional tax credits for the child’s first year of life.

John White, professor emeritus of politics at the Catholic University of America, told CNA that Harris’ proposal emphasizes “issues of social justice and the care of children after they are born,” which “is consistent with the teachings of Catholic social justice and the importance of a caring, nurturing society.”

“What happens after birth is just as important as what comes before it,” White said. “Catholic teaching is not a one-size-fits-all program, but must be understood in its entirety. No candidate will adhere perfectly to Catholic teaching. Catholics should support what they believe is consistent with the teachings of the Church and make their voices heard in the public square.”

Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America, also supports expanding the child tax credit. The advocacy group is calling on Democrats to support pro-life policies.

“We support it,” Day told CNA, but added, “I think the (Biden-Harris) administration needs to do a lot more to address the entire situation of pregnant women.”

Day said Democrats for Life has been “advocating for an expansion and extension of the child tax credit” for years, but warned that Harris’ campaign team “does not support pregnant women having children” and is instead “very pro-abortion.”

She said she was also concerned about efforts by Harris and many other Democrats to support policies designed to discredit or restrict pro-life pregnancy counseling centers that provide women with life-affirming prenatal care.

Democrats in several other states have targeted pro-life pregnancy centers. New York Attorney General Letitia James, for example, accused several centers of misleading their clients and filed suit against them. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health launched a website and media campaign to discourage women from seeking pro-life prenatal care.

As California’s attorney general, Harris sponsored a law requiring these centers to provide abortion information to their patients, but the Supreme Court struck down that law because it restricted free speech.

Day said Democrats should “stop demonizing pregnancy centers,” which she believes “should have bipartisan support.” She encouraged Democrats to focus on “reducing abortion rates” with policies that help pregnant women continue their pregnancies, rather than “expanding abortion rates.”

(The story continues below)

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“The Biden administration and Harris’ position on this issue is really focused on abortion and not on women – not on women’s health care and not on pregnancy and giving women the choice to have a baby,” Day said.

Harris’ plan comes days after Vance’s

Harris’ announcement comes less than a week after Vance proposed increasing the child tax credit to $5,000 per child annually in an Aug. 11 interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” In the interview, Vance said, “President Trump has long publicly advocated for a higher child tax credit, and I think he wants that to apply to all American families.”

Michael New, a professor of social studies at the Catholic University of America, told CNA that Harris’s support for expanding the child tax credit was “another example of her copying a popular policy proposal from the Trump campaign,” pointing to Harris’ proposal to eliminate the tax on tips shortly after the Trump campaign supported the policy.

New said he supported expanding the child tax credit, adding: “The tax code should be family-friendly and we should find ways to support families who want to have children.” However, he also said that “these measures are only marginally effective” when it comes to promoting life and preventing abortions.

“In countries such as Hungary and Poland, efforts to encourage large families through various tax breaks and subsidies have had little success,” says New. “Although many women seeking abortions cite economic reasons, only a relatively small percentage of women seeking abortions say that financial reasons were the only reason for the abortion.”