2021 Child Tax Credit

I have a dream that someday I will find logic in the laws and regulations generated by politicians and the bureaucracy, but it’s just a dream. If there were logic involved billions, perhaps trillions would be available to help those who truly need a helping hand … but it is a dream.

Instead we hear politicians ranting about fairness, fair share, rigged system, inequality and the like.

Let’s examine one small example of how fairness works as defined by government.

I used the Kiplinger child tax credit calculator and found that a family with two children’s under age 5 with an adjusted gross income of $300,000 would received a tax credit of $333 a month from July to December 2021 and could claim a total tax credit for 2021 of $2,000. I’m thinking these children have already been lifted out of poverty.

Adjusted gross income does not include income reduced by 401(k), HSA contributions or other pre-tax benefits. It also does not include tax-free interest. And, of course, the tax credit does not consider net worth or savings or investments. The example couple may have assets of millions, significant income from tax-free municipal bonds and still receive a child tax credit.

So, while politicians talk about the state of billionaire tax payments, the system for “working families” they endlessly promote is quite unfair and wasteful, but, throw children into the mix and nothing seems to matter.

Source: 2021 Child Tax Credit Calculator | Kiplinger