Republicans claim to be the party of family values, but President Joe Biden is about to show Americans how much he values kids. That coronavirus relief bill that the President promised (and which the Senate just passed), includes an expansion of the Child Tax Credit that will start paying out this year:
Presently, the child tax credit is worth $2,000 per kid under the age of 17 whom you claim as a dependent and who has a Social Security number. To qualify, the child must be related to you and generally live with you for at least six months during the year. The credit begins to phase out if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is above $400,000 on a joint return, or over $200,000 on a single or head-of-household return. Up to $1,400 of the child credit is refundable for some lower-income individuals with children, but these people must also have earned income of at least $2,500 to get a refund.
The American Rescue Plan would temporarily expand the child tax credit for 2021. First, the plan would allow 17-year-old children to qualify. Second, it would increase the credit to $3,000 per child ($3,600 per child under age 6) for many families. Third, it would remove the $2,500 earnings floor. Fourth, it would make the credit fully refundable. And fifth, it would allow half of the credit to be paid in advance by having the IRS send periodic payments to families from July 2021 to December 2021 [Joy Taylor, “Senate Passes $3,000 Child Tax Credit for 2021,” Kiplinger, 2021.03.06].
That expansion is only temporary, just for the 2021 tax year. But given that families with kids have faced the added burdens of school closings amidst coronavirus, helping families with kids pay for their kids’ education and other health precautions is a far better use of federal dollars for coronavirus relief and stimulus than giving Kristi Noem’s rich brothers more money.
Republicans value their own families; Democrats value everybody’s families.
Republicans are starting right where they left off with the Obama administration, vote AGAINST anything that will allow a Democrat to look good. It is always party first, and we can count on the SD rubber stamps to do their part.
To be fair, Mitt Romney has also proposed this, granted, he wants to eliminate other family credits, but he still agrees with the basic premise to increase child tax credit.
https://www.kiplinger.com/taxes/602207/mitt-romneys-higher-child-tax-credit-comes-with-a-twist
Meanwhile red states like South Dakota continue getting further behind economically from the progressive blue states.
Yet the red state senate republicans voted lock-step against the economic stimulus package – a package that has over 70% approval. Republican senators do not deserve to govern.
“We’re in the grip of a paradox. Even as areas that vote Republican continue falling behind blue America economically — helping widen those oft-discussed regional inequalities between cosmopolitan and outlying areas — GOP elites everywhere are growing more committed to an increasingly uniform and regressive agenda that does little to address the problem.
“Red America is falling farther behind, but the politicians who represent it at all levels have gotten more unified on an economic agenda that hurts the people who live there,” Jacob Hacker, the Yale political scientist . . .”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/08/study-political-economy-red-states/
John, you get me wondering if Repulicans are committing the crass economic manipulation of their base that they accuse Democrats of committing. When we Democrats invest in families with smart policies like the Child Tax Credit, Republicans accuse of fostering dependency on the welfare state just to keep our captive audience of voters. Yet in the scenario your source describes, it’s as if Republicans are deliberately undermining the welfare of their base to keep them dependent on the scapegoating fantasies of the Republican Party.
Well South Dakotan’s when the state goes under you can move to Idaho, at least you’ll be elevated.
House passed the covid relief bill with zero magat votes.
Garland confirmed as Biden’s AG on a 70-30 vote.