Stimulus update: Direct child tax credit payment worth up to $3,600 could be sent out under new proposal
Asher Notheis
Video Embed
A child tax credit payment could see an increase if Congress takes action to enact its expanded form.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to increase the Child Tax Credit for every child a family has by at least $1,000. The tax credit reverted back to its original form of $2,000 per child in December 2021, according to a statement from Schiff.
TAXPAYERS FILING THEIR 2022 TAXES COULD BE IN FOR A ‘REFUND SHOCK’
“While this Congress has delivered on many priorities, we are faced with the choice to continue essential programming that families desperately need, like the Child Tax Credit,” Schiff’s letter to Pelosi and Hoyer read. “At a time when millions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet and the prices of everyday essentials are at record highs, it is our responsibility as Members of Congress to pass bold legislation and codify policies that will ultimately help reduce poverty, homelessness, and food insecurity for American children and workers.”
The American Rescue Plan of 2021, enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, expanded the Child Tax Credit’s benefits, such as increasing the tax credit for children under 6 from $2,000 to $3,600 and from $2,000 to $3,000 for children 6 to 17. Additionally, the age limit for this benefit was increased from 16 to 17, and the tax credit was made fully refundable.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Schiff’s request comes a month before the Democrats lose control of the House, as the Republican Party won back the lower chamber of Congress in the 2022 midterm elections. The congressman is specifically asking for an extension of the expanded Child Tax Credit to be included in any year-end legislation from Congress.
Democrats are generally in favor of restoring the credit to the much more generous terms granted in 2021. Republicans have remained divided on increased tax credits, though the party may be changing in favor of the child benefit as they continue to try to appeal to working-class voters.