The Child Tax Credit: Moving forward

(Children’s Defense Fund) – On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan tax package that included elements of the historic 2021 Child Tax Credit expansion. The new Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act doesn’t include all of the improvements that were part of that expansion, but it is still an important step that will benefit approximately 16 million young people – including more than 1 in 3 Black and Brown children under 17. The CTC was created in 1997 to help families meet everyday expenses raising children, and since then, it has eased economic pressure on many parents and caregivers and helped families afford groceries, clothes, school supplies and other basics needed for children’s well-being. It was expanded in 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan, reaching 35 million families – and approximately 90% of all children in the United States – who benefited from its immediate relief. Monthly payments – the hallmark of the 2021 expansion – ensured even greater economic security and flexibility for families, and the expansion helped child and youth poverty in the United States fall to the lowest rate on record. But Congress allowed the expansion to expire in 2022,...