Red states pushed child tax credits this year, but the broadest plans fizzled

Earlier this year, some conservative states began to embrace child tax credits that put cash directly into the hands of families raising children.

Long favored by liberals, child tax credits can help ease the financial burdens of parenthood and have been shown to slash childhood poverty rates.

But despite initial optimism from sponsors and child welfare advocates, Republican proposals in Indiana and Ohio did not advance this year. Had either measure passed, it would have been the first refundable child tax credit approved in a conservative state.

“The result has been more talk than action,” said Aidan Davis, state policy director at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which has tracked the issue.

Despite the Indiana and Ohio rejections, Georgia did approve a new