I believe that we can work toward providing a strong safety net for all people—and that the tax system will always be an important part of that effort.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed vast social and economic inequities in the US, which prompted unprecedented relief policies that, for one year, brought child poverty to its lowest levels in decades. However, as the economy enters a new phase of robust job growth, high inflation, and ongoing...
Refundable tax credits can play an important role in the financial lives of low-income families. The two that provide the most support are the earned income tax credit (EITC) and the child tax credit (CTC). Refundable tax credits differ from most programs that provide income support to low-...
In 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act temporarily expanded the child tax credit (CTC) to provide a credit of up to $3,000 per child ages 6 to 17 and up to $3,600 per child under age 6. Many families with very low incomes, including some not typically required to file a tax return, were eligible...
Families typically receive the child tax credit (CTC) as part of an annual refund after filing their tax returns. The American Rescue Plan Act changed that temporarily. From July to December 2021, the Internal Revenue Service automatically delivered up to half the anticipated annual credit to...
The American Rescue Plan temporarily increased the child tax credit (CTC) in 2021, including extending the credit to families who had not previously filed tax returns. The Internal Revenue Service automatically sent monthly payments of the CTC to families that had filed a tax return in 2019 or...
The 2021 temporary expansion of the child tax credit (CTC) was unprecedented in its reach, lifting 3.7 million children out of poverty as of December 2021. It provided families with up to $3,600 for every child in the household under the age of six, and up to $3,000 for every child between the...
Direct income supports (such as cash transfers) can stabilize households during crises and recoveries. They show special promise as an equitable means of assisting families of color with low incomes, who because of structural racism are disproportionately affected...
Representatives Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) and Michelle Steel (R-CA) have introduced the Working Families Tax Cut Act to increase the standard deduction – which would increase...
Benefits from safety net programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) and tax programs such as the Earned Income Tax...
President Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget would revive 2021’s enhanced child tax credit (CTC) with some new twists that seek to make the credit work...
In a year when child poverty has risen substantially following the expiration of temporary tax benefits, Washington intransigence over raising the debt ceiling could put...
In 2021, Congress enacted sweeping legislation that temporarily cut child poverty nearly in half . A key feature was the expanded child tax credit (CTC),...
Even though jobs are plentiful and wages are up, many families still face a shaky economic outlook. Higher than average inflation, which tends to hit...
As President Biden and congressional Democrats make another push to reach a compromise on a social spending, climate change, and tax bill, a key issue...
As Congress struggles to develop a scaled back version of President Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) plan, some observers (including my TPC colleague Howard Gleckman...
In 2021, the Child Tax Credit (CTC), helped nearly all families with children . But this year, because American Rescue Plan (ARP) expansions have lapsed,...
Starting in July, many parents began receiving monthly payments of the Child Tax Credit (CTC). A new IPSOS survey as well as Urban Institute interviews...
As Congress debates whether to extend the major, but temporary, changes to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) it adopted earlier this year, a crucial question...
Families began receiving monthly Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments on July 15. For many, those regular payments—currently permitted through the end of the year—will combat...
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig told the Senate Finance Committee on April 13 that the agency could begin delivering monthly 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments...