The expanded child tax credit is here.
Effective July 15 the credit rises to a maximum of $3600 per child from $2000, but only for 2021 unless Congress extends it.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest health philanthropy, says it should be permanent. And Jennifer Ngandu, managing director of programs, wants to make sure people have all the facts.
“If a family receives SNAP or WIC benefits they don’t have to worry about those being taken away,” she said. “That’s really important because sometimes there are myths running around.”
Studies say the expanded credit could help cut child poverty in the US in half this year. But why only for this year?
“Families are getting important breathing room and don’t have to make the impossible tradeoffs that too many have had to make over the last year in terms of whether to put food on the table or pay rent or mortgage,” she said.
Ngandu said experts around the world, including the National Academy of Medicine, actually were charged by Congress several years back to figure out what could be done to reduce child poverty. The tax credit could have profound effects, she said.