CNBC Pans JD Vance's $5k Child Tax Credit; Neutral on Kamala's $6k Credit

CNBC ran two articles covering competing proposals for an expansion of the federal child tax credit — but while it called Republican JD Vance’s $5,000 proposal “difficult,” it did not criticize Democrat Kamala Harris’s $6,000 plan.

The articles were written by the same author, Kate Dore. Her article on Vance’s proposal, dated August 12, was titled “Vance wants to raise the child tax credit to $5,000. Here’s why that could be difficult.” Her article on Harris’s plan, dated August 16, was titled “Harris calls for expanded child tax credit of up to $6,000 for families with newborns.”

Here is how the text of the articles compared. First, three representative paragraphs from the article about Vance’s $5,000 child tax credit:

Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, former President Donald Trump’s GOP running mate, wants to more than double the child tax credit. But the increase could be difficult to enact, policy experts say.

…

Vance’s idea would be a “relatively large expansion” compared with the current benefit, worth up to a maximum of $2,000 per child for 2024, according to Garrett Watson, senior policy analyst and modeling manager at the Tax Foundation.

…

Vance’s comments come less than two weeks after Senate Republicans blocked an expanded child tax credit that passed in the House in January with bipartisan support.

And here are three representative paragraphs from the article on Harris’s $6,000 proposal:

Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday unveiled an economic plan, including an expanded child tax credit worth up to $6,000 in total tax relief for families with newborn children.

The Democratic presidential nominee’s plan aims to restore the higher child tax credit enacted via the American Rescue Plan in 2021, which provided a maximum credit of up to $3,600 per child, according to a fact sheet from the campaign.