In the midst of a baby bust, the last thing Congress should do is make life harder for families. Yet every year, parents see their taxes, in effect, go up because inflation is eating away at the value of the child tax credit, which has already lost 20% of its value since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in President Donald Trump’s first term.

The current array of tax benefits for families is too complex, and it favors some familial arrangements, such as full-time work and paid child care, over others, such as stay-at-home moms or informal child care.