Fletcher: Child tax credit sets ‘children up for success’

A United States Congresswoman from Texas is praising a part of the American Rescue Plan after an announcement from Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig saying monthly payments from the new child tax credit will start in July. 

U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas) supports the American Rescue Plan’s Child Tax Credit increases made possible through the American Rescue Plan signed by President Joe Biden in March, Fletcher’s Facebook post said. Under the plan, the Child Tax Credit will be “$3,000 per child ($3,600 for a child under age 6) and make 17 year olds qualifying children for the year,” the American Rescue Plan Fact Sheet said. Over 66 million children would benefit from the expansion, which is for the 2021 tax year.

“The American Rescue Plan’s #ChildTaxCredit payments will set children up for success and put money in hardworking families’ pockets for childcare or gas so they can go to work and fuel our economy,” Fletcher said on a May 10 Facebook post in which she encouraged people to “secure” their payments by filing their taxes for free.

Payments of the Child Tax Credit will be made monthly to eligible taxpayers starting in July through December, with payment estimated from taxpayers’ 2020 tax returns or 2019 returns if 2020 returns weren’t filed, the IRS website said.

“The increased amounts are reduced (phased out), for incomes over $150,000 for married taxpayers filing a joint return and qualifying widows or widowers, $112,500 for heads of household, and $75,000 for all other taxpayers,” the IRS website said.

Cynthia L. Van Auken criticized the Child Tax Credit expansion in response to Fletcher’s May 10 Facebook post.

“Pass an increased minimum wage with a COL increase yearly so people can pay their own way and be proud of it,” Van Auken said on Fletcher’s Facebook post.

A four-year extension of the new Child Tax Credit under the American Rescue Plan is being proposed under the newly released American Families Plan. The proposal would also make the Child Tax Credit “permanently fully refundable,” "The Fact Sheet: The American Families Plan" said.

“For a family with two parents earning a combined $100,000 per year and two children under six, the Child Tax Credit expansion means an additional $3,200 per year in tax relief,” the Fact Sheet said.

Some Democrats in Congress, such as U. S. Rep. Richard Neal (D-Massachusetts), want the Child Tax Credit be to permanent.

“The expanded and improved Child Tax Credit is a historic change that is a lifeline to the middle class and cuts child poverty,” Neal said on Facebook. “Here in MA-01, the Child Tax Credit lifts 8,300 children out of poverty. It's well past time we made this permanent.”