State Reps. Dillon and Scanlon and State Sen. Looney (right) with Brian Murphy at Wednesday's presser.
An extra $500 from the state this summer helped Brian Murphy cover the costs of piano lessons and lacrosse equipment for his two kids as he and his partner sought to get back to “normal” after years disrupted by the pandemic and a sudden layoff.
Murphy described the impact of that state assist Wednesday morning during a press conference held by Guilford State Rep. Sean Scanlon, New Haven State Sen. and President Pro Tem Martin Looney, and New Haven State Rep. Pat Dillon in Edgewood Park.
Scanlon and his fellow state legislators convened the press conference to tout the impact of the state’s one-time child tax rebate, which provided eligible families with between $250 and $750 depending on the number of children in the household.
A total of 238,668 low- and middle-income households claimed the benefit this summer, with roughly $92.5 million in child tax rebate funds distributed. (Around 33,000 households, however, still hadn’t received the benefit as of earlier this month.)
On Thursday, Scanlon announced “of all the neighborhoods in Connecticut,” the Whalley-Edgewood-Beaver Hills and Westville areas saw some of the highest numbers of child tax rebate applications.
Scanlon, who is also running as the Democratic candidate for state comptroller this November, said that “1,500 families of within a few block radius [of the park] received that check” this summer.
“That is what the Democrats under Gov. Lamont and the legislature did this year as part of a $660 million tax cut. It’s the largest tax cut in the history of Connecticut, and this provision, the child tax rebate was one of the most important pieces of that.”
Looney said that the child tax credit, which he and other Democratic state legislative leaders plan on pushing to include in the budget this upcoming state legislative year, provided a real boost to working Connecticut families, especially when combined with other state legislative efforts like fare-free bus transit, a cut to the state gas tax, a cap on the motor vehicle property tax, and an expansion of the state earned income tax credit.
“There are a lot of families here that are paying high rent. There are a lot of families who moved in here when other families downsized,” Dillon said on Wednesday when reflecting on the reasons why so many Whalley-Edgewood-Beaver Hills and Westville neighbors likely applied for the child tax rebate. She stressed that many people working service jobs and other “public facing jobs” also lost hours and income during the height of the pandemic. “They’re still coming back,” and likely needed the state rebate help.
Murphy spoke up at Wednesday’s park presser as someone who actually applied for and received the child tax rebate.
A Spring Glen resident who now works for as the Town of Hamden’s constituent services manager, Murphy said that he and his partner received a total of $500 in child tax rebate funds for their two kids, who are aged seven and nine.
At the start of 2020, Murphy said, he was working “in a corporate position for a very large, international company.” He had a good salary, 13 years on the job, and “very flexible” work hours. His partner, meanwhile, worked providing occupational therapy for elderly residents in rehabilitation centers.
Then the pandemic hit. First Murphy’s job went entirely remote. Then he was laid off. All the while, his partner’s job responsibilities and hours increased.
“It was unsustainable, the pressure that was on to make all of the ends meet,” Murphy said. “We really felt like during that time our kids suffered the most” by missing out on in-person school and by missing out on time spent with friends and participating in extracurricular activities.
Even after finding a new job, Murphy said, he and his partner still felt a financial pinch, given that he was now working for a lower salary and was now all the more aware of how much the life he wanted to provide for his kids cost.
“We were able to use the credit over this summer to create a really nice fall for our children where they were able to not only get back to school, but they were able to partake in those events, be with other children,” Murphy said. “And we can do that without having to sacrifice their future.”
He said that the $500 his family received from the state in the form of a child tax rebate went in part towards covering the cost of piano lessons and lacrosse equipment for his kids.
“I’ve been incredibly privileged,” Murphy acknowledged during the pressed. “I have had everything going for me. I’ve had every safety net work.” He said that his family’s getting through the pandemic — including with the help of the child tax rebate — was a testament to why “strong government is so important.”
Click on the video below to watch Wednesday’s press conference in full.
The child tax credit is important to lower income and lower middle income families. After school programs, before school programs, daycare, tutoring lessons, summer camp, and enrichment opportunities like sports, music lessons and field trips help poor children get access to the experiences and academic support that children in wealthier families take for granted. Playing a sport or musical instrument can get a poorer child a scholarship for college. A child that has enough food, appropriate clothing for the weather, school supplies, access to the internet for education resources, the utility bill getting paid, and access to healthcare are in much better shape to learn and grow. The Child Tax Credit lifted 30% children out of poverty, and when it was allowed to expire, it plunged that 30% of children right back into poverty. We need to reinstate it and make it permanent and automatic when people file their taxes, and for families who earn to little to file taxes, an equivalent amount should be applied with their government food or housing assistance.