The Illinois General Assembly can take a big step forward in reducing child poverty. Our state can become the 15th nationally to enact a permanent child tax credit, relieving working parents of the indignity of choosing which bills to pay and which necessities to provide for their families. Doing so makes economic sense and could enable a more dignified set of outcomes for nearly 1 million households.
I grew up in a Chicago household where we struggled. I remember my mom up late at the kitchen table trying to pay bills while raising me and my sister, running her own small business, while going to school for her associate’s degree. That’s why three years ago, when I became a state senator, one of the first bills I introduced called for a child tax credit that helps struggling families like mine.
My family had to forgo doctor’s visits to make rent and keep food on the table. No family in Illinois should have to make these painful choices. We owe it to all Illinois children and parents to create a child tax credit that puts hard-earned dollars back in the pockets of those families, which they don’t have the luxury of saving.
When the federal child tax credit expanded in 2021, families overwhelmingly used that money to pay for basic necessities like diapers, rent, and clothes. We saw a 46% decrease in child poverty. Those gains were lost when the expansion ended in 2022. That same year, 1 of 6 children in Illinois was living in poverty. That number was double for Black children in Illinois.
Enacting a child tax credit such as Senate Bill 1444 would reduce child poverty in Illinois by a sizable 8%, according to the Illinois Economic Policy Institute. For every dollar a household gets back in child tax credits, two and a half times as much is spent locally. Illinois would experience fiscal savings as families rely less on safety net programs.
I’ve helped create a movement calling for a child tax credit in Illinois. Forty grassroots organizations and a diverse coalition of my colleagues have stood together calling for this policy to reduce child poverty, help millions of parents and relieve the stress too many endure. It’s time to make a child tax credit a reality.
State Sen. Mike Simmons (D-Chicago)
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Auto Show 2024 disappoints
This year’s Chicago Auto Show was a pale imitation of its former glory. Nearly half the exhibit space was lost. The steady decline in the number of manufacturers represented accelerated dramatically this year with the exodus of the entire Stellantis stable of brands: Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram. Only two of the remaining manufacturers, Toyota and Subaru, seemed to have put their hearts into their floor exhibits. The rest seemed to be mailing in their presentations on the show floor. Only three of the manufacturers, Kia, Subaru and Ford, offered on-the-street test drives of their products. The days of the show being populated with knowledgeable product and dealer reps and characterized by fun promotions that drew crowds to manufacturers’ areas have vanished.
Even the sideshows, selling everything from products to perfect the process of cleaning one’s car to customized vans, have faded into irrelevance. The former frenetic sideshow pitchmen have been replaced by kids who couldn’t be bothered to look up from their phones. The food choices were limited to hideously overpriced pizza and barbecue. Even the McDonald’s that used to cater to show attendees was gone.
It would be easy to blame the manufacturers for the decline of the show, until one considers their perspective. The extravaganzas that the shows used to be were expensive propositions with paybacks that were nebulous at best. And this was before figuring in the trashing of the display cars by show attendees who apparently never learned how to respect other people’s property. Some of the cars looked like they had been attacked by flocks of figurative locusts, with shifter knobs, radio knobs and other detachable accessories stripped, upholstery slashed, and various mechanisms broken by repeated recreational misuse. One cannot blame the manufacturers for concluding that actively participating in the show simply wasn’t worth the expense involved.
I have been attending the Chicago Auto Show since the ‘60s, and my family and I will be attending as long as there is a show. There are too many memories attached to the show, and still enough fun and information to be gleaned, to decline to attend. However, the show is clearly in decline and one has to wonder how much longer it will last.
Mark M. Quinn, Naperville
Reinsdorf wants $1 billion?!
After recovering from severe laughter at Jerry Reinsdorf’s alleged request for $1 billion in public funding for a new ballpark, I offer this: I would be willing to give $1 million — no, make that $10 million in public funding for the Sox stadium for every game over .500 that they win in 2024. I think it’s a safe bet that the taxpayers wouldn’t spend a dime. And I make a similar proposal for our Bears. Message: Field a winning team before you ask me for a penny of public funding for your “legacy” project.
Robert Blitstein, Lake View
Don’t blame Texas governor for migrant crisis
If the Sun-Times wants to trace how the migrants got here, it’s simple. Chicago declared itself, in a truly virtue-signaling moment, a sanctuary city. You asked for it. You got it.
But now once you’ve found out what it actually means, you want none of the work it involves. Stop blaming your pseudo-villains.
Jim Lanham, Joliet
