Even as the September payment is about to land in millions of bank accounts, the tax credit’s future remains up in the air.
The third monthly payment of the enhanced Child Tax Credit will land in accounts this week, providing an influx of cash to millions of families at a time when most other major stimulus programs for U.S. households have ended. Parents of about 60 million children will receive direct deposit payments on September 15, while some may receive the checks through the mail anywhere from a few days to a week later. Parents of eligible children under 6 will receive $300 per child, while those with children between 6 to 17 will receive $250 per child on Wednesday. The September 15 payment marks the halfway point of the direct cash assistance, with only three monthly payments remaining under the plan signed into law by President Joe Biden through the American Rescue Plan. But some Democratic lawmakers are currently working on an extension of the enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC) through 2025, although that’s far from guaranteed. In the meantime, anti-poverty advocates say the CTC has helped families weather the ongoing effects of the pandemic. „The bills come monthly, and so should the checks,“ said Natalie Foster, co-chair of the Economic Security Project, a nonprofit that advocates for guaranteed income. „We know that these first two checks have really impacted families in a meaningful way.“ For instance, the share of households with children that sometimes or often didn’t have enough to eat dropped to 8.4% from 11% after the first check arrived, according to an analysis of Census data by the Senate Joint Economic Committee. Food and educational expenses ranked among the top uses of the checks, with 7 in 10 families putting the funds toward goods, services or paying down debt, the JEC report found. Meanwhile, the Delta variant is causing a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, hampering as some businesses hesitated to hire and millions of workers sat on the sidelines amid growing fears about infection. But federal pandemic unemployment benefits, which means families struggling with joblessness may be more reliant on the CTC to make ends meet.
