Child Tax Credit: Without Stimulus Money, Child Poverty Is Set to Rise by 17%
Child tax credits were increased for millions of American families under the American Rescue Plan.
Nonetheless, the end of advance payments could have a serious impact on the U.S. child
As per the recent research from Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy, over 60 million children received child tax credits in December, keeping nearly 3.7 million children out of poverty.
Approximately 30% of child poverty is believed to have been reduced by the child tax credit, Yahoo reported.
In December 2021, the monthly child poverty rate stood at 12.1%; in January, the rate was at 17.1%, December 2020.
As of June 2021, the last month before the advance payments were introduced, 15.8% of children lived in poverty.
“Since July, monthly payments of the Child Tax Credit have helped millions of families pay for essentials such as food, childcare, and other household needs as those expenses arise,” Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said.
“The lives of tens of millions of children across the country have improved because families have received tax relief when they need it most.”
A Census Bureau survey of middle-income families revealed that 55% of them spent their first payment on food, 26% on clothes, and 23% on school and after-school activities within weeks of receiving their first payment in July.
Sen. Joe Manchin, who needed to vote on the build-back-better bill for the legislation to pass, opposed the extension of the enhanced child tax credit in the president’s Build Back Better Plan.
“Few federal programs have had such a direct & demonstrable impact on Americans as the expanded #ChildTaxCredit,” UPI reported Rep. Suzan DelBene’s post on Twitter.
