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Millions of Americans are feeling a financial boost from government economic controls and monthly child tax credits.
These direct controls were made possible through tax credits created or expanded by laws designed to help the U.S. economy recover from Covid-19.
And as Americans get used to additional financial aid, calls are being made to make the improved tax credits permanent. This also includes the child tax credit, but also the temporary extension to the income tax credit.
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) offers tax breaks to individuals and families with low to middle incomes. To qualify, taxpayers usually need to provide evidence of earned income. You can also qualify for higher credit depending on how many dependents you have.
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The EITC has been made more generous in several ways for the 2021 tax year. Now more workers without children can qualify. For the first time, it is also available to younger employees and has no age limit.
Taxpayers will generally not see the impact of the expanded EITC until they file their taxes next spring.
However, there are already calls to extend the EITC extension beyond this year. One of these is President Joe Biden’s American Families Plan.
It also includes a bill, passed last week by Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., Called the Worker Relief and Credit Reform Act, which aims to both expand and modernize the EITC.
United States Representative Gwen Moore, D-Wis., Speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee on August 17, 2020.
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Moore’s proposal is a “broader rethinking” of how the EITC can be used to provide economic security to Americans, said Adam Ruben, director of the Economic Security Project Action, which advocates EITC modernization and other policy changes, to the capability of Americans to improve, to prosper financially.
While it also includes Biden’s enhancements, it would continue those changes, Ruben said. It would be introduced sooner, which would enable low-income people to get more money. At the same time, couples with total incomes up to $ 90,000 would also get a larger loan.
In particular, it would also give low-income students and family caregivers access to the loan for the first time.
“That means we have a more modern understanding of what we mean by work, what matters when we say someone has to work to get it,” said Ruben.
When you give people money, you are giving people the tools to solve their own problems.
Adam Ruben
Director of the Economic Security Project Action
As suggested by Rep. Moore, the maximum loan would also be more generous, up to $ 4,000 per person or $ 8,000 per couple.
Biden’s proposed changes were inspired by this and other proposals to reform the EITC, including one made by Vice President Kamala Harris, Ruben said.
While Rubens Organization has been campaigning for such reforms since 2017, it is now receiving more attention.
One reason for this is that Covid-19 has changed the way policy makers think about aid delivery. While other programs like SNAP benefits for groceries or Section 8 shelters for lodging help resolve specific issues, they don’t provide for other situations, such as when someone has to pay for a car repair to get to work, Ruben said.
The stimulus checks and monthly child tax credits have helped improve understanding of how money can serve as a tool for people in trouble, he said.
“When you give people money, you give people the tools to solve their own problems,” said Ruben.
The extended EITC will expire without further changes. Workers under 25 and over 64 with no children would not receive any benefits, said Aidan Davis, senior policy analyst at the Department of Taxes and Economic Policy.
Additionally, those between the ages of 25 and 64 would get back a third of the maximum credit they had for 2021, she said.
“Once people start getting this and bigger benefit, it’s hard for lawmakers to take it away,” Davis said.
If Biden’s permanent EITC expansion is rolled out, it could raise $ 12.4 billion in funding in 2022, which ITEP research suggests would benefit 19.5 million workers. The bottom 20% of eligible households would benefit most as they would receive more than three quarters of the total benefit.
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