ICYMI: “Sorely Needed” Child Tax Credit Payments Already A Boost for Ohio Working Families
July 27, 2021
Columbus, OH — The first round of expanded Child Tax Credit payments — part of the American Rescue Plan that passed in March — are already making a real difference in the lives of Ohio’s working families. The middle class tax cut steers hundreds of dollars per month directly into the bank accounts of the vast majority of families with children, including as many as 94% of kids in Toledo, as the Blade reported this weekend.
With some calling the expanded CTC Washington’s “biggest anti-poverty program in decades,” expect working families to remember Democratic efforts to put money back in Ohioans’ pockets — and how every single congressional Republican voted against the new tax cut.
From WOUB: Families Receive Sorely Needed Child Tax Credit Payments
BUCHTEL, Ohio (OVR) — The Robsons, like the vast majority of U.S. households with children, began receiving the Child Tax Credit last week – the latest part of the American Rescue Plan to be put into action. Jaclyn Robson says it was sorely needed.
“I don’t want to have to work 60 hours a week just to make a decent wage,” Robson said. “I want to be able to stay at home with my kids more, but I don’t want to not work.”
The Robsons live in Buchtel, Ohio. Jaclyn works long hours as a direct support worker – often taking extra shifts to help them get by. Her husband, Harold Robson stays at home with their three young children, two of whom have autism and require extra care.
The American Rescue Plan, signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021, was designed, in part, to help families like theirs. The package builds upon the mid-pandemic economic relief of 2020’s CARES Act.
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Some have argued the expanded Child Tax Credit under the American Rescue Plan is the biggest anti-poverty program deployed by the federal government in decades.
Biden spoke at the White House last Thursday to celebrate the launch of the payments.
“It’s our effort to make another giant step toward ending child poverty in America,” Biden said. “I think this is one of the things that the vice president and I will be most proud of when our terms are up.”
Experts expect the improvements in the Child Tax Credit will pull millions of kids out of poverty. Researchers at Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy estimate that the American Rescue Plan would likely cut child poverty by more than half.
Families qualify based on their 2019 or 2020 tax filings. Those who did not file taxes and still wish to receive the credit may fill out a form on the IRS Child Tax Credit portal.
Prior to this increased credit, families received a yearly credit of $2,000 per child, ages 0-16. Now qualifying families will receive $3,600 for each child under age 6, dispensed in monthly payments of $300. Families will receive $3,000 for children aged 7-17, in monthly payments of $250.
Jaclyn Robson says while the credit isn’t enough to live off of, it’ll make a big difference for her family and families like hers. They plan to use the funds for new school clothes for the children and potentially vehicle repairs. She says later in the year it will help families give their children a nice Christmas.
From the Toledo Blade: The kids are all right: Child tax credit aids 94% of Toledo families
While Chartise Williams oversaw well-seasoned hamburgers grilling at Wildwood Preserve Metropark, her four children, ranging in age from infancy to adolescence, weaved through the park’s picnic tables.
When the Internal Revenue Service began distributing child tax-credit checks last week, Ms. Williams, a single mother, used her money to cover bills, groceries, school supplies, and uniforms for her brood.
The child tax credit offers monetary relief to working parents, and Congress expanded the benefit in February as part of its massive coronavirus stimulus package. Now, the Williams household falls into the 94 percent of Toledo families eligible for tax-credit payments, and many parents across the city are feeling the relief.
“I just think it’s an amazing idea,” Ms. Williams said. “I love it. It’s helping out the community. A lot of kids go without both parents so the money helps out a lot.”
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“Ohio is a state that has a lot of children living in poverty, so a lot of families stand to benefit from the program,” said Emily Campbell, that organization’s associate director. “We generally tend to think programs that support families to make ends meet can break generational cycles of poverty.”
Nationwide, 65 million children will see this money. In Ohio, 92 percent of minors are eligible for tax credit payments; 93 percent of children in the state’s Ninth Congressional District — the “Snake on the Lake” that stretches from Toledo to Cleveland — are eligible, as are 94 percent of kids in Toledo itself.
“This is a life-changer for many families,” said U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo). “It’s certainly going to help them recover from the pandemic.”