Plan Calls for Payments of $3K Per Child

Recurring payments from the IRS may be on tap for tens of millions of American families. Unnamed Democratic officials tell the Washington Post that a plan being drafted includes monthly payments to families of $300 per child younger than six and $250 per child aged six to 17, amounting to $3,600 or $3,000 a year, respectively. The current child tax credit is $2,000, according to WLTX, and can be claimed when parents file their federal income taxes. Under the new plan being discussed, per the Post, taxpayers would not have to wait until they file their taxes to receive the credit—even if they owe more in federal taxes than the value of the credit. “This will have more collective buy-in if a broader swath of the population directly receives the payment,” an aide involved in creating the legislation tells the paper.

The plan being drafted calls for the benefit to last for one year. However, Democrats hope that the popularity of the program would pressure Congress to extend it. The Post notes that Republicans are likely to oppose the plan because of its cost. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the measure would increase the federal deficit by up to $120 billion for one year. However, a Columbia University analysis finds that it would reduce the number of children in poverty by more than 50%. Affluent families would not receive the benefit, but an exact income level for the cutoff has not been determined. Expansion of the child tax credit is part of an overall $1.9 trillion economic relief package that President Joe Biden is pushing, per the AP. (More economic stimulus package stories.)