RSB/3/19
Sponsored by Salome Martin, Johan Gigme of Ravenwood High School
This legislation was filed in the Economic and Community Development category
Presented as part of the YIG Volunteer 2024 conference
| 1 | BE IT ENACTED BY THE TENNESSEE YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Section 1: Terms in this act will be defined as follows: |
| 4 | a. Child Tax Credit - The Child Tax Credit is a program providing financial support to taxpayers |
| 5 | with dependent children. The credit is available to individuals and households with children under |
| 6 | the age of 18. This tax credit can be a valuable resource for those who are raising children and can |
| 7 | help offset costs associated with child-rearing. |
| 8 | b. Fully Refundable - A fully refundable tax credit provides money to households, regardless of |
| 9 | whether they owe taxes. |
| 10 | c. Jointly Filing Taxpayers - Married couples that file a single tax return. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Section 2: The State of Tennessee shall establish a fully refundable state Child Tax Credit, for |
| 13 | households with an annual income of $56,000 or less. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Section 3: Households would receive $3,100 for each child between the ages of 6 to 17, and |
| 16 | $3,720 for each child under the age of 6. A larger tax credit is provided for children under the age |
| 17 | of 6 to target additional resources for a critical period of child development. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Section 4: The value of the Child Tax Credit will be adjusted to reflect the impact of inflation. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Section 5: The Child Tax Credit shall be disbursed in monthly installments. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Section 6: According to projections by the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia |
| 24 | University, a Child Tax Credit of this nature would reduce child poverty in Tennessee by 50%. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | Section 7: To fund the Child Tax Credit, the State of Tennessee shall implement a state income tax |
| 27 | of 3% on income above $220,000 for individuals and $440,000 for jointly filing taxpayers. This tax |
| 28 | would only affect the top 5% of income earners in Tennessee. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | Section 8: This state income tax would raise an estimated $3 billion of additional revenue, which |
| 31 | will be used to fund the Child Tax Credit. The Child Tax Credit program requires an estimated |
| 32 | $2.68 billion. |
| 33 | Section 9: This bill will provide an annual surplus of $320 million to the State of Tennessee |
| 34 | because the income tax raises more revenue than the cost of the Child Tax Credit. This revenue |
| 35 | would be added to Tennessee’s budget surplus. |
| 36 | |
| 37 | Section 10: All laws or parts of laws in conflict with this are hereby repealed. |
| 38 | |
| 39 | Section 11: This act shall take effect July 1st, 2024, the public welfare requiring it. |
| 40 |