Call me cynical … many people have. But I have a question. How do we know that these new payments will in any way be used to directly help the children, especially in dysfunctional families where children are more at risk?
If you are irresponsible in your daily life and relationships, why will this cash change things?
In any case the article is a good read and food for thought.
Starting in July, under a newly retrofitted Child Tax Credit (CTC), the IRS will begin sending monthly checks of $250 per child ($300 for children under six) to families with adjusted gross incomes under $150,000. Part of the Covid-era American Rescue Plan, the revamped CTC will benefit the large majority of American families with kids, but its biggest impact will be felt by the approximately 10 million children below the poverty line. The prediction is eye-popping: the new law, the consensus has it, will slash child poverty in half.
Source: Why the New Child-Tax Credit Won’t Live Up to the Hype | City Journal
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Hmmm… I wonder if sending monthly checks for each child will have an impact on employers who are desperate for workers.
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I don’t understand the concept of Child Tax Credit. If you can’t afford kids and have a joint income of $150k (up to $400K for a reduce amount on the base $2K credit) then you need to figure out why you can’t afford your own children.
I had gotten this credit several decades ago, but I never realize that you can earn up to $150K (maybe it did not back then). The tax credit makes less sense to me now then back in the 1997 when it first started. How is it fair that having children results in you paying less tax when your children require more services (mostly schooling)? If the money is based on a living breathing child, why is one who was born into a family making over $150K worth less than one who family makes $50K?
Why not just make dependents under age 17 worth more in the dependent deduction amount when you file your taxes instead of all this extra BS? If the money is to be directly used on children make all school lunches free and get rid of this tax credit. Otherwise, where does the money really go?
Reading on the history of the child tax credit, I think it was created with good intentions but now I think it is just giving away money trying to buy votes. Before you had to wait a whole year to get more of a refund on your income taxes so you couldn’t contribute that refund check directly to a politician whereas a direct check you can.
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