If she’s elected president of the United States, Kamala Harris will propose a child tax credit for families with newborns and initiatives to lighten the burden of high-cost groceries and housing.
Kamala Harris has come to acknowledge that recent economic realities are taking Americans for an unprecedented and unsolicited spin. Many are struggling to make ends meet with their current incomes.
Families With Newborns to Be Chief Beneficiaries of Harris’ Expanded CTC
Part of Harris’s economic plan is to expand the CTC system. The intention is to give $6,000 to middle- and low-income families with a new baby. In addition, Harris is seriously considering the reintroduction of the pandemic-era palliative that awarded each family $3,600 per child.
Interestingly, this economic outlook is a departure from President Joe Biden’s stance on the child tax credit program. On the contrary, the Republicans have harped on the program.
ALSO READ: Harris Introduces “Opportunity Economy” Focused on Reducing Food, Housing, and Family Costs
Adopting a Republican Game Plan
Vice presidential candidate of the Reds, Senator J.D. Vance, recently suggested that he would love to see the child tax credit expanded to accommodate a payment of $5,000 per child.
Polls show that Americans do not credit the current administration for the Bidenomics initiatives. Instead, the polls reveal that voters trust Donald Trump and even Harris better with the economy.
Aligning With Constituents to Win Widespread Support
Kamala Harris reverberated the concerns of many Americans during her Raleigh address in North Carolina on Friday. “Costs are still too high, and on a deeper level, for too many people, no matter how much they work.”
Harris empathized with the people in her speech, adding that she understands how difficult it can be for the average American to get by.
Americans are Naturally in support of the Child Tax Credit
The CTC program is an easy bait for any administration to win voters’ support. The scheme has a noticeable impact on the standard of living of Americans in the low- and medium-income brackets.
However, footing the program’s bills would give any administration sleepless nights, as it is quite expensive to maintain. The expense is the reason for the termination of the child tax credit program.
An Economic Plan that Favors an Actice CTC Program Will Be Expensive to Execute
The program would cost the US government about $100 billion of taxpayer money annually. That figure applies to the scale at which the child tax program was run during its last Iteration.
Now, if we are to go by Harris’ call for expansion, the annual cost of running “the program would probably cost twice the initial amount,” says Economist Kevin Corinth.
An Economic Plan That Favors Americans, Difficult But Achievable
So far, the Harris campaign team has only expressed their economic intentions but has not proposed a budget for the expanded child tax credit program.
According to Felicia Wong, the chief of the Roosevelt Forward advocacy group, the Harris proposal on child tax would increase national spending. Nonetheless, Wong affirms that “we certainly have that money in our country.”
Tax the Rich to Feed the Poor
The next question likely to arise is how the economic plan intends to generate the revenue required to fund the new, large-scale child tax credit.
Wong says it is a matter of increasing taxes on the wealthy and corporations and changing our tax code overall to ensure that we can bring in these revenues.” The November elections will determine if the proposal will pass.
What is the Extra Child Tax Credit in Texas?
In February 2024, the House passed the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024. The bill’s next stop is the US Senate for a vote. The initial child tax credit program, which expired shortly after the pandemic, awarded $2,000 to families per child.
However, the proposed child tax credit extension will now provide each child with as much as $3,600, lifting beneficiary families above the poverty line.
How Much is the Texas Child Tax Credit?
Kids under 17, as of December 31, 2023, will be eligible for a maximum tax credit of $2,000 per child. For now, only a maximum of $1,600 from that amount is refundable to eligible families.
The figure was much higher in the 2021 tax year. Children five and below received an expanded child tax credit of $3,000, and children between the ages of six and 17 were eligible for $3,000 in tax credit.
Who Claims a Child on Taxes in Texas?
The IRS follows the verdict of custodianship when claims are to be made regarding the tax credit benefits of a child from a dissolved marriage. The parent with primary custody gets to enjoy all the tax returns on the child(ren).
For example, if a child spends most of the time with the mother and occasionally visits the dad, the mother becomes the sole beneficiary of the tax credit.
ALSO READ: Kamala Harris Unveiled Her Bold Economic Plan. I Urge Her to Go Bolder.
What is the Child Tax Credit in California?
For clarity, it is important to point out that child tax credits could be state or federal. In California, the state-controlled program is called the California Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC).
For 2023, families that qualified for the YCTC received about $1,117 for each eligible tax return. California families would have to earn less than $30,931 to qualify.
You Might Also Like:
China’s Bond Market Intervention Signals Growing Concerns Over Financial Stability
Goldman Sachs Lowers U.S. Recession Odds to 20% Following Retail and Jobs Data
Incoming CEO Brian Niccol Faces the Challenge of Fixing Starbucks’ Mobile App Issues
Egg Prices Climb Again as Bird Flu Reduces Supply
Warren Buffett Makes a Curious Move With His Apple Stock Holding