Dear editor,

Lexy Doherty is the Democratic candidate for our 10th Congressional District. I am impressed with one of her central campaign issues.

Doherty wants to fix a trillion, emphasis on trillion with a “T”, dollar leak in our  economy. That is the cost to our economy of child poverty. Doherty wants to restore the child tax credit which has already proven to lift children out of poverty.

According to a 2021 study by the National Academies, child poverty costs our nation between $800 billion and $1.1 trillion each year. The reasons are fairly intuitive. Among other things, child poverty increases street crime, health care costs, and reduces productivity due to poorer academic outcomes.

In this light, the child tax credit simply makes sense. The US Census Bureau found that the child tax credit reduced child poverty roughly in half to 5.2 percent, with minorities enjoying record low levels of child poverty.

Unfortunately, her opponent allowed the child tax credit to lapse. We need it back.

As Doherty said at a recent campaign event, “Every dollar we spend on eliminating child poverty ultimately saves us three to five dollars. This is not a handout. It’s an investment in our country.”

Sincerely,

Roy Evritt