In the News

Continuing the expanded child tax credit, which is set to expire after 2021, would help millions of American children, including lifting some out of poverty, according to new research.

As many as 65.6 million American children — 90% of all kids in the U.S. — would benefit from an expanded child tax credit, such as the one proposed in President Joe Biden’s American Families Plan, a study from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has found.

In addition, the changes to the child tax credit proposed by the act would lift 4.1 million children out of poverty, cutting the overall poverty rate by about 40%, the study found.

The child tax credit was enhanced in the American Rescue Plan Act, signed into law by Biden in March. For 2021, the maximum enhanced child tax credit is $3,600 for children younger than age 6 and $3,000 for those 6 to 17. Part of the credit will be given as monthly payments: $300 per child younger than 6 and $250 for those 6 to 17, starting July 15.

Biden’s American Families Plan proposes keeping the expanded child tax credit through 2025 and making the regular child tax credit permanently refundable so that families with the lowest incomes can still benefit from the tax break.

“The anti-poverty effects are historic and important,” said Kris Cox, deputy director of federal tax policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and one of the study’s authors. The research found that an expanded continued child tax credit will benefit nearly all children in the U.S., she said...

Calls for a permanent expanded credit

Though the American Rescue Plan would significantly reduce child poverty, some are pushing for even more support to families with kids.

One proposal is that the expanded credit — the $3,600 for children under age 6 and $3,000 for those 6 to 17 — also be made permanent, instead of ending in 2025.

A group of Democrats in Congress, including Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Reps. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, Suzan DelBene of Washington and Ritchie Torres of New York are pushing to make the enhanced credit a permanent one.