The credit would be split into monthly payments to families.
WASHINGTON – Congressional Democrats will propose to give families up to $3,600 per child this year as part of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief plan. The proposal, part of a 22-page draft obtained by USA TODAY ahead of the legislation’s public release, would expand the child tax credit to up to $3,600 for children up to 6 years old, or $3,000 for children up to age 17. The credit would be split up into monthly payments to families from the federal government. The credit would start to phase out for couples earning $150,000, or $75,000 for individuals. Under current tax law, the child tax credit is $2,000 per child and is not distributed monthly. The new proposal was first reported by the Washington Post Democrats say the credit will be a lifeline to families affected by the COVID-19-induced economic recession and will help lift children out of poverty. « The pandemic is driving families deeper and deeper into poverty, and it’s devastating. We are making the child tax credit more generous, more accessible, and by paying it out monthly, this money is going to be the difference in a roof over someone’s head or food on their table, » said Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. Politics live updates: Trump blasts impeachment case as ‘political theater’; Texas lawmaker dies weeks after testing positive for COVID-19 More: Joe Biden calls women out of work, kids out of school a ‘national emergency’ in interview It is unclear if the legislation will be included in the final version of Biden’s relief plan because of the procedure called reconciliation Democrats are using to pass the bill.
